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The results of Scotland's Global Connections Survey 2007 were released today 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 financial and sales information relating to 2007, therefore these results do not reflect the current Global decline in demand and subsequent economic situation.

Main Findings

• Scottish international exports in 2007 (excluding oil and gas) are provisionally estimated at £20.6 billion, of which £13.6 billion is attributable to manufacturing sector companies. This represents an increase in overall exports of £1.3 billion since 2006, due to a rise in the manufacturing sector. The service sector shows a very slight increase of (+£65 million) exports since 2006
• The top five exporting industries in 2007 were food and beverages (£4.6 billion), chemicals (including refined petroleum products) (£2.2 billion), the wholesale, retail & accommodation sector (£1.9 billion), business services (£1.9 billion) and manufacture of machinery and equipment not elsewhere classified (£1.2 billion). Together these industries accounted for over half of total exports from Scotland
• The USA continues to be Scotland's top export destination with an estimated £2.8 billion of exports in 2007, an increase of £140 million since 2006. Exports to France rose in 2007 to make it Scotland's second top export destination: estimated to be worth £1.5 billion (+ £450 million)
• An estimated £9.5 billion of all Scottish exports were destined for the EU. Within the EU, France was the largest market, followed by Netherlands (£1.4 billion exports in 2006)

Estimates relate to exports to destinations outside the UK, estimates of intra UK trade for the same period will be available in the next few weeks, with estimates for 2002 - 2005 currently available at the website above.

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.

Official statistics are produced by professionally independent statistical staff.

Related Information

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/browse/economy/exports

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/About