About Export Statistics Scotland

Exports

We define exports as direct sales to customers based outside the UK. This includes sales to visitors to Scotland. The estimates exclude VAT and exports of goods which are on a 'Free On Board' basis (i.e. excluding overseas freight and insurance costs). Goods that are sold to elsewhere in the UK and subsequently exported will not be included in these estimates.

Industry Classifications

We classify companies using the 2007 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC). The activity of a company's largest local unit in Scotland is used to define them. This is based on the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR).

Oil and Gas

Estimates of Scottish exports do not include any exports of oil and gas extracted from the UK continental shelf. This means that exports exclude companies classified as 'Extraction of crude petroleum' [SIC (2007) 6.1] and 'Extraction of natural gas' [SIC (2007) 6.2].

Exports of services provided to the oil and gas industry are included under 'Support activities for petroleum and natural gas extraction' [SIC (2007) 9.1], 'Support activities for other mining and quarrying' [SIC (2007) 9.9] and 'Architectural and engineering activities; technical testing and analysis' [SIC (2007) 71].

The Scottish Government has published experimental estimates of the value of exports of oil and gas and the offshore economy. Estimates for 2018 can be found in Annex A of the Exports Statistics Scotland 2018 publication.