Exports statistics Scotland 2021

Several industry sectors have shown strong growth in export value

We looked at the change in export value between 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2021, for all industry sectors across international and rest of UK destinations, as well as EU and non-EU destinations. This section describes the sectors that showed the largest growth.

The industry sector that experienced the highest growth in export value between 2019 and 2021 was exports of ‘utilities’ to the rest of the UK. Between 2019 and 2021, the value of exports for this sector increased by £1.6 billion (44.9%). This was due to the value of these exports increasing by around a fifth in both 2020 and 2021.

In fact, all of the top five sectors with the biggest value increases in export value between 2019 and 2021 were for exports to the rest of the UK, not international exports.

The value of exports of ‘coke, refined petroleum, chemicals and chemical products’ to the rest of the UK also showed strong growth, increasing by 47.1% (£750 million) between 2019 and 2021.​

Figure 9. Between 2019 and 2021, exports of utilities to the rest of the UK experienced the largest value increase

The five sectors for international and rest of the UK exports (RUK) that experienced the largest positive change in estimated export value between 2019 and 2021

Among EU and non-EU exports, the value of exports of ‘professional, scientific and technical activities’ to the EU and of non-EU ‘education’ exports were the two sectors that experienced the largest value increases between 2019 and 2021.

Figure 10. Between 2019 and 2021, EU exports of ‘professional, scientific and technical activities’ experienced the largest value increase, among EU & non-EU exports

The five sectors for EU and non-EU exports that experienced the largest positive change in estimated export value between 2019 and 2021