Question reference: S6W-09288
- Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 23 June 2022
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Current status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 12 July 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the most recent breakdown by country of Scotland's leading international export destinations.
Answer
Scotland’s export performance is published annually in the Export Statistics Scotland (ESS) report at the start of each year and provides the Scottish Government with estimates of Scotland’s international and domestic trade in both good and services, excluding oil and gas. The timing and content of the ESS publication is determined independently of ministers.
ESS relies heavily on company data collected through the Global Connections Survey (GCS). However, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in the postponement of that survey in 2020 and impacted the publishing the ESS in 2020 and 2021. However, data collection for the GGS 2020 and 2021 data is due to start imminently.
Our most reliable and up to date source of export data is provided by the ESS 2019 report - Export statistics Scotland: 2019 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . Based on ESS 2019, the USA is our top international export destination with an estimated value of just over £6bn in total exports.
Table 1: Scotland’s top 20 international export destinations, 2019 (£ million) | |||
Rank | Destination | Total Exports (£ m) | % of Total |
1 | USA | 6,025 | 17.2 |
2 | France | 2,920 | 8.3 |
3 | Netherlands | 2,720 | 7.8 |
4 | Germany | 2,370 | 6.8 |
5 | Ireland | 1,445 | 4.1 |
6 | Belgium | 1,270 | 3.6 |
7 | Norway | 1,100 | 3.1 |
8 | Spain | 1,035 | 3 |
9 | Italy | 850 | 2.4 |
10 | Australia | 740 | 2.1 |
11 | Singapore | 730 | 2.1 |
12 | UAE | 705 | 2 |
13 | Sweden | 700 | 2 |
14 | Denmark | 695 | 2 |
15 | China | 685 | 2 |
16 | Brazil | 640 | 1.8 |
17 | Canada | 640 | 1.8 |
18 | Japan | 620 | 1.8 |
19 | Switzerland | 595 | 1.7 |
20 | Luxembourg | 445 | 1.3 |