Valora is the banknote printer of Banco de Portugal, working from the central bank’s complex at Carregado, north of Lisbon. It was created for the euro and has printed continuously since production began.
| Country | Portugal |
|---|---|
| Printing site | Carregado |
| First-series printer letter | U |
| Europa-series printer letter | M |
| Europa-series control number | 4 |
| Status | Active |
A Banco de Portugal building in Porto. Valora, the bank’s printing company, works from the Carregado complex north of Lisbon.
A company founded for a currency that did not yet exist
Banco de Portugal set up Valora in 1992 with the specific task of producing euro banknotes. Manufacturing started in 1999, initially through a partnership with the British printer De La Rue, which held a quarter of the capital. The joint venture was wound up by agreement in December 2007 and the central bank took over the whole company.
Valora prints part of the allocations of Portugal, Belgium and Austria and also produces non-euro banknotes for export, which keeps the plant running at a scale a single small country could not sustain on its own.
Letters U and M
The Carregado works had the letter U in the first series and became M, control number 4, in the Europa series. Because the plant prints for more than one issuing central bank, notes carrying its letters circulate under several different serial-number prefixes.
Reading the code on a note
The Europa-series production code opens with M for sheets printed at Carregado. The letter is followed by the plate number and the sheet position; the complete structure, and the differences from the first series, are set out in printing offices and printer codes.
.jpg){kind=link}