Exports statistics Scotland 2021

Official estimates of Scotland's exports for 2019, 2020, and 2021.


The USA remains Scotland's largest export destination

Scotland exported £5.1 billion of goods and services to the USA in 2021, making it Scotland’s largest international export destination, accounting for 16% of Scotland’s international export value in 2021. For exports to the USA, the largest industry sector was ‘food, beverages, and tobacco’, which accounted for a fifth (20%) of Scotland’s exports to the USA in 2021 and was worth just over £1.0 billion.

Despite being the largest export destination, Scotland’s exports to USA saw a drop in 2020 compared to the previous year (down £1.3 billion, 21.7%), and remained lower in 2021 compared to 2019 (down £810 million, 13.6%).

The other top export destinations in 2021 were France (£3.0 billion, 10% of international exports), which ranked second in 2019, 2020 and 2021, and Germany (£2.5 billion, 8% of international exports). Germany overtook the Netherlands as an export destination in 2020 due to a larger drop in the value of exports to the Netherlands in 2020 than for Germany. The value of Scotland’s exports to Germany in 2021 had almost returned to pre-pandemic levels (2019) but exports to the Netherlands fell by over a quarter between 2019 and 2021.

Scotland’s top ten international export destinations accounted for over half (59%) of Scotland’s international exports in 2021.

Figure 8. The USA was Scotland’s largest international export destination in 2021

Estimated value of exports to Scotland’s top ten export destinations in 2021.

Bar chart showing that the USA was Scotland’s largest international export destination in 2021.

 

Contact

If you have any enquiries relating to these statistics then please contact the Trade Statistics team at:

Email: exports.statistics@gov.scot

Post:
Trade Statistics
5th Floor Atlantic Quay 5
150 Broomielaw
Glasgow
G2 8LU

Back to top