Scotland's International Goods Trade: Quarter 3 2023
This report contains Scotland's trade in goods data from the latest release of HMRC's Regional Trade Statistics (RTS).
Compared to the previous year, the value of Scotland’s goods imports decreased by 8.3% (£2.9 billion) to £32.3 billion in the year ending September 2023, whereas the UK overall saw a small increase (up 2.2%). The decrease for Scotland was largely driven by a fall in the value of imports of gas (down 35.0%, £3.7 billion), and office machinery (down 23.2%, £625 million). The majority of the decline for gas was due to a reduction in the value of gas imports from Norway. The volume of gas imports for Scotland overall only decreased by 0.7% over this period, suggesting a reduction in the price of gas is largely responsible for the decline. On the other hand there was a large increase in the value of imports of power generating machinery (up 35.8% over this period).
Unlike overall imports, EU imports increased by 11.4%, whereas imports from non-EU countries decreased by 17.1% during this period. This reduction in non-EU imports is in large part due to the decrease in the value of gas imports from Norway. Norway was still the top country for Scotland’s goods imports, accounting for a quarter (21%) of the value of Scotland’s goods imports in the year ending September 2023 despite the considerable drop of £3.7 billion seen in gas imports from Norway. In contrast, the value of gas imports from the USA increased by 85.6% over this period with a corresponding increase in the volume.
Table 8. The value of Scotland’s international goods imports by UK nation, £ billions, year ending (YE) September (Q3) 2019, 2022, 2023
|
UK Nation |
YE Q3 2019 |
YE Q3 2022 |
YE Q3 2023 |
YE Q3 2019 v YE Q3 2023 (%) |
YE Q3 2022 v YE Q3 2023 (%) |
|
Scotland |
25.2 |
35.2 |
32.3 |
28.2% |
-8.3% |
|
Scotland (exc. Oil & Gas) |
21.7 |
22.9 |
23.8 |
9.6% |
3.9% |
|
England |
398.8 |
454.4 |
458.9 |
15.1% |
1.0% |
|
Wales |
18.4 |
22.8 |
22.0 |
19.6% |
-3.4% |
|
Northern Ireland |
8.1 |
9.2 |
9.7 |
19.7% |
6.0% |
|
United Kingdom |
495.1 |
598.9 |
611.8 |
23.6% |
2.2% |
|
United Kingdom (exc. Oil & Gas) |
451.0 |
500.2 |
531.5 |
17.9% |
6.3% |
Source: HMRC RTS, Q3 2023
Figure 12. The value of goods imports from non-EU countries has been volatile since the end of 2021
Value (£ billion) of Scotland’s goods imports from EU and non-EU countries (quarterly), Q1 2018 to Q3 2023
Source: HMRC RTS, Q3 2023
Table 9. The value of Scotland’s top ten imported goods, £ billions, year ending (YE) September (Q3) 2019, 2022, 2023
|
Product |
YE Q3 2019 |
YE Q3 2022 |
YE Q3 2023 |
YE Q3 2019 v YE Q3 2023 (%) |
YE Q3 2022 v YE Q3 2023 (%) |
|
Gas |
2.2 |
10.6 |
6.9 |
214.3% |
-35.0% |
|
Power generating machinery |
2.3 |
2.4 |
3.2 |
42.5% |
35.8% |
|
Office machinery |
3.0 |
2.7 |
2.1 |
-30.1% |
-23.2% |
|
Oil |
1.3 |
1.7 |
1.6 |
25.1% |
-6.6% |
|
General industrial machinery |
1.1 |
1.0 |
1.3 |
18.6% |
23.6% |
|
Electrical machinery & appliances |
0.9 |
1.0 |
1.2 |
25.2% |
16.6% |
|
Other transport equipment |
1.3 |
0.8 |
1.2 |
-10.9% |
38.6% |
|
Road vehicles |
0.5 |
1.0 |
1.2 |
146.3% |
14.0% |
|
Apparel & clothing |
1.0 |
0.9 |
1.0 |
-5.2% |
2.0% |
|
Manufactures of metal |
0.7 |
0.7 |
0.9 |
31.7% |
28.4% |
Source: HMRC RTS, Q3 2023
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