Scotland’s International Goods Trade: Quarter 1 2023

Total trade refers to the sum of goods exports and imports and provides an estimate of Scotland’s overall trade activity in goods. Compared to the previous year, the value of Scotland’s total international trade in goods increased by almost a quarter (up 24.1%, £14.2 billion) in the year ending March 2023. Goods trade with EU countries increased by over a quarter (up 28.3% ,£7.6 billion), which was a comparable percentage increase to that of the UK (up 26.8%). Goods trade with non-EU countries rose by 20.7% (£6.7 billion) during this period, which was a larger percentage increase than for the UK (up 16.0%).

Over the longer term, the trends showed generally greater increases, with the value of Scotland’s total international, EU and non-EU goods trade all experiencing increases of around 32% in the year ending 2023 compared with the year ending March 2020.

Figure 13. Since the end of 2021, the value of Scotland’s goos import s and exports have been more similar than they were previously
Value of Scotland’s goods exports and imports (quarterly), 2019 Q1 to 2023 Q1

Source: HMRC RTS, Q1 2023