Exports by Industry
Exports by Industry
Data
Exports by Industry
Description
The Scottish Government produces a National Statistics publication, Export Statistics Scotland, which estimates the nominal value of Scottish exports (excluding oil and gas) at sector level. It includes estimates for goods and service exports and is the only source of estimates for exports from Scotland to the rest of the UK.
Metadata
| Theme | Economy |
|---|---|
| Organisation | Scottish Government |
| License | UK Open Government Licence (OGL) |
| Published | |
| Last updated | |
| Next update | 1 Nov 2025 |
| Update frequency | annual |
| Reference period | 2019 to 2021 |
| Geographic coverage | Country |
| Contact | exports_statistics@gov.scot |
Data quality
Completeness
These statistics are published in the Export Statistics Scotland National Statistics publication. The data is published in Excel format and is also available as an accessible html publication.
Uniqueness
Not assessed
Consistency
There is no UK survey which compares exactly with Export Statistics Scotland. The methodology note of the ESS publication provides charts and commentary comparing Export Statistics Scotland export estimates with other UK and Scottish sources.
Timeliness
The publication is normally released in January in each year. However the ESS 2019 publication was delayed due to the postponement of the 2019 Global Connections Survey (GCS), which is one of the key sources for this data. This was done in recognition of the challenges and pressures faced by businesses in dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic and preparing for EU exit. This has impacted the timing of subsequent publications. To reduce the delay, ESS 2020 and 2021 were published together for the first time.
Validity
The data are of interest to government policy makers, politicians, the business community, economic commentators, academics and members of the general public with an interest in the Scottish economy.
Accuracy
Export Statistics Scotland is a National Statistic, certified by the UK Statistics Authority as compliant with its Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
Quality management
Following the collection of data on exports, the data are cleaned and quality assured by Scottish Government statisticians. Outputs are subject to rigorous quality assurance and where possible other sources are used to review figures.
Additional details
Revisions
Estimates for previous years are revised from those published in the previous year and are largely due to new information being provided by companies. The most recent results are provisional, and are likely to be revised in the future when improved information becomes available.
Additionally there has been a methodology change from previous ESS publications, meaning there is a break in the time series. As a result this data is not comparable with previous publications of Exports Statistics Scotland. The current time series presented is for 2019-2021, and the estimates for 2019 have been revised from those presented in the ESS 2019 publication.
Confidentiality policy
Company specific details and any data from which it might be possible to identify individual companies will not be published.