Scottish Government
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Global Connections Survey 2010

The results of Scotland’s Global Connections Survey 2010 were released yesterday by Scotland’s Chief Statistician.

The figures provide an estimate of the cash value of Scotland’s exports of goods and services, by industry and destination.

This is the only export survey covering all sectors of the Scottish economy. Companies provided sales and export information relating to 2010. Exports to the rest of UK, international exports and the combination of both exports, called total exports, will all be presented for the first time in the Statistical Bulletin.

Main Findings

  • Scottish international exports in 2010 (excluding oil and gas) are provisionally estimated at £22.0 billion, of which £13.7 billion is attributable to manufacturing sector companies and £7.1 billion is attributed to the service sector. This represents an increase in overall exports +£355 million since 2009, primarily due to a rise in the manufacturing sector exports of +£595 million and a decrease in service sector exports of -£305 million.
  • The top 5 exporting industries in 2010 were food & beverages (£4.0 billion), chemicals (including refined petroleum products) (£3.0 billion), business services (£2.5 billion), electrical and instrument engineering (£1.9 billion) and the mechanical engineering sector (£1.6 billion). Together these industries accounted for around 60 per cent of total exports from Scotland.
  • The USA continues to be Scotland’s top international export destination with an estimated £3.5 billion of exports in 2010, an increase of +£365 million since 2009. Exports to Netherlands increased by +£250 million in 2010, estimated to be worth £2.4 billion making it Scotland’s second top export destination.
  • Rest of UK exports in 2010 (excluding oil and gas) are provisionally estimated at £44.9 billion, of which £24.0 billion is attributable to service sector companies and £13.0 billion is attributable to manufacturing sector companies. The increase in overall rest of UK exports of +£1.9 billion since 2009 is due to a rise in manufacturing sector of +£1.1 billion, and a rise of +£815 million in the mining quarrying & extraction of petroleum sector, and a slight rise in the service sector of +£155 million since 2009.
  • The combined value of international and rest of UK exports in 2010 (excluding oil and gas) are provisionally estimated at £66.9 billion, of which £31.0 billion is attributable to service sector companies and of which £26.7 billion is attributable to manufacturing sector companies. The increase in total exports of +£2.3 billion since 2009 is due to a rise in the manufacturing sector of +£1.7 billion and a rise of +£955 million from the mining, and quarrying & extraction of petroleum sector, despite the a very slight decline of -£150 million from the service sector.

Read the the full statistical publication 

Estimates from the Global Connections Survey are provided in current prices and have not been adjusted to account for deflation. The quarterly Index of Manufactured Exports provides a time series of the real term growth of export sales in the manufacturing industry. Further information is available at the website above.

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