Publication - Statistics
Business Insights and Conditions in Scotland (wave 143): 13 November 2025
Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) weighted Scotland data up to survey period 20 October to 2 November 2025 (Wave 143). The BICS provides statistics on how current conditions are affecting businesses in Scotland, including impact on financial performance, workforce, trade and resilience.
Key points for businesses with 10+ employees and a presence in Scotland:
- in the last 12 months, an estimated 20.6% of trading businesses had exported goods, services or both; and 28.5% of trading businesses had imported goods, services or both
- of businesses currently trading that have exported in the last 12 months, an estimated 15.1% exported more in September 2025 than September 2024, and 19.8% exported less
- of businesses currently trading that have imported in the last 12 months, an estimated 11.3% imported more in September 2025 than September 2024, and 11.7% imported less
- for an estimated 42.1% of exporters the cost of exporting increased in September 2025 compared with September 2024; with 35.6% of importers reporting an increase in the cost of importing over this period
- an estimated 10.7% of businesses were impacted by US tariffs in the last month, with this share rising to 23.7% for goods exporters
Note that the next BICS Scotland publication, with data to Wave 144, is scheduled for release on Thursday 27 November 2025.
Contact
For enquiries about this publication please contact:
Marina Curran
Business & Innovation Statistics
Office of the Chief Economic Adviser
email: industrystatistics@gov.scot
For general enquiries about Scottish Government statistics please contact:
Office of the Chief Statistician
email: statistics.enquiries@gov.scot