BICS weighted Scotland estimates: data to wave 64

Exporting and Importing Challenges

The BICS asks businesses that are currently trading about how current conditions, including the end of the EU transition period, have impacted on their exporting and importing – the specific questions asked are shown below.

Question: How did your business's exporting compare with this calendar month last year?

• exported/imported more
• exporting/importing stayed the same
• exported/imported less
• business was unable to export / import
• not sure

Figure 4: Of businesses currently trading that have exported/imported in the last 12 months, 18.8% reported exporting less in August 2022 compared to August 2021, and 12.2% reported importing less.

Source: Office for National Statistics – BICS – Weighted Scotland Estimates – Wave 64

Businesses were also asked about the cost of exporting/importing and time spent on exporting/importing in August 2022 compared with August 2021.

Figure 5: Almost two thirds (65.0%) of applicable businesses reported that the cost of exporting has increased in August 2022 compared with August 2021.  An estimated 61.1% of businesses reported that the cost of importing has increased over this period.

Source: Office for National Statistics – BICS – Weighted Scotland Estimates – Wave 64

An estimated 43.3% of businesses reported that time spent on exporting had stayed the same in August 2022 compared with August 2021.  A similar share of businesses reported that time spent on exporting has increased (43.2%).

Almost half (49.7%) of businesses reported that the time spent on importing has stayed the same in August 2022 compared with August 2021.  A further 39.0% of businesses reported that time spent on importing has increased over this period.

Currently trading businesses that have exported or imported in the last 12 months, and reported on how exporting compared to the previous year were asked if they had experienced an increase in exporting/importing challenges over the last month.

Figure 6: The challenges that were most commonly reported to have increased in Wave 64 were additional paperwork and changes in transportation costs – this was the case for both exporting and importing. However, an estimated 50.0% of exporters and 37.9% of importers reported that they did not experience an increase in exporting/importing challenges in August 2022 compared with July 2022.

Source: Office for National Statistics – BICS – Weighted Scotland Estimates – Wave 64

Businesses that reported challenges to exporting/importing were asked about the main cause of these exporting/importing challenges.

Figure 7: In Wave 64, 46.0% of businesses reported that the end of the EU transition period was the main cause of their exporting challenges.  This was also the most frequently reported cause of importing challenges (46.2%).

Source: Office for National Statistics – BICS – Weighted Scotland Estimates – Wave 64