Scotland's International Goods Trade: Quarter 3 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 trade in goods decreased by 4.3% in the year ending September 2023, whereas the UK overall saw a 2.4% increase. When oil and gas are excluded however Scotland and the UK are much more comparable on this measure, with the increase for Scotland at 4.1% compared to 5.9% for the UK.

Scotland’s total goods trade with the EU increased by 2.9% over this period, whereas total goods trade with non-EU countries decreased by 10.2%.

Figure 13. The value of Scotland’s total trade in goods peaked in the fourth quarter of 2022
Value of Scotland’s goods exports and imports (quarterly), 2018 Q1 to 2023 Q3

Source: HMRC RTS, Q3 2023