Small Business Survey Scotland: 2023-2024

Trade Activities

• 15 per cent of SME employers had exported goods or services outside of the UK in the previous 12 months (broadly in line with last year)

Figure 1: The most popular location for SME employers to export to was the European Union, with 75 per cent of exporters selling there.

Destination of international exports (2023-24). Multiple answers allowed to this question.

Source: Small Business Survey Scotland 2023-2024 from DBT and Scottish Government. For Figure 1 data, see table ‘C2c’.

• 82 per cent of exporters sold to non-EU countries. Most SME exporters (59 per cent) sold to both EU and non-EU countries
• 40 per cent of SME employers had sold goods, services or licensed their product to the rest of the UK
• 13 per cent of SME employers in Cohort A had directly imported from overseas; a statistically significant drop on the 24 per cent figure from last year (and lower than this year’s UK figure of 20 per cent). 12 per cent of SME employers were importing from the EU (a statistically significant drop from 19 per cent last year) and 9 per cent from non-EU countries (a statistically significant drop from 17 per cent last year)

Figure 2: More than half of SME employers in Cohort A who imported (56 per cent) bought from both EU and non-EU countries.

Import Sources by SME employers (2023-24).

Source: Small Business Survey Scotland 2023-2024 from DBT and Scottish Government. For Figure 2 data, see tables ‘C2gii’, ‘C2giii’ and ‘C2giv’.

• 60 per cent of SME employers buy in goods or services from the rest of the UK (broadly in line with last year)