Scotland’s International Goods Trade: Quarter 3 2022
This report contains trade in goods data from the latest release of HMRC's Regional Trade Statistics (RTS).
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Compared to the first nine months of 2019, the value of Scotland’s international goods imports in the first nine months of 2022 experienced a large increase of 40.0% (up £7.2 billion) to £25.1 billion. In comparison, the value of international goods imports to the UK increased by 24.9% over this period.
The increase in goods imports was driven by imports of gas, which experienced more than a fivefold increase in value (up 517.3%, £6.3 billion) in the first nine months of 2022 compared to the first nine months of 2019. However, much of this increase might be due to increases in gas prices since the volume of gas imports only increased by 15.6% over this period. Gas accounted for almost a third (30%) of the total value of Scotland’s imports in the first nine quarters of 2022. More than three quarters (84%) of the total value of Scotland’s gas imports came from Norway.
Table 8. The value of UK goods imports by region for the first nine months (Q1+Q2+Q3) of 2019-2022
|
Region |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2019 v 2022 change (%) |
2020 v 2022 change (%) |
2021 v 2022 change (%) |
|
Scotland |
18.0 |
14.5 |
16.3 |
25.1 |
40.0 |
73.1 |
53.9 |
|
Scotland (exc. Oil & Gas) |
15.8 |
13.5 |
13.4 |
16.2 |
2.6 |
19.7 |
20.5 |
|
England |
296.6 |
234.9 |
257.6 |
352.1 |
18.7 |
49.9 |
36.7 |
|
Wales |
13.7 |
10.4 |
11.4 |
18.1 |
32.5 |
73.4 |
58.2 |
|
Northern Ireland |
6.1 |
5.1 |
5.7 |
7.0 |
13.4 |
37.5 |
22.0 |
|
United Kingdom |
367.6 |
298.7 |
329.5 |
459.3 |
24.9 |
53.7 |
39.4 |
|
United Kingdom (exc. Oil & Gas) |
334.5 |
279.5 |
300.0 |
377.4 |
12.8 |
35.0 |
25.8 |
Source: HMRC RTS, Q3 2022
The value of Scotland’s goods imports from the EU increased by 12.5% (up £930 million) to £8.4 billion. This was similar to the change in value of goods imports from the EU to the UK over this period (up 12.9%). Growth in the value of imports of power-generating machinery (up £362 million, 135.8%) road vehicles (up £198 million, 63.9%) and other transport equipment (up £150 million, 114.6%) contributed to this increase. There was however a large decrease in the second largest category of imported goods from EU countries in the first nine months of 2022 compared to the first nine months of 2019: the value of imports of office machinery reduced by £659 million (55.3%).
Figure 12. The value of goods imports from non-EU countries in Q3 2022 remains higher than in 2019
Value of Scotland’s goods imports from EU and non-EU countries (quarterly), 2019 Q1 to 2022 Q3
Source: HMRC RTS, Q3 2022
Table 9. Scotland’s top ten imported goods in the first nine months (Q1 + Q2 + Q3) of 2019 – 2022
|
Product |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2019 v 2022 change (%) |
2020 v 2022 change (%) |
2021 v 2022 change (%) |
|
Gas |
1,217 |
575 |
2,317 |
7,512 |
517.3 |
1205.7 |
224.3 |
|
Power generating machinery |
1,646 |
1,193 |
1,095 |
1,920 |
16.7 |
61.0 |
75.4 |
|
Oil |
981 |
438 |
592 |
1,442 |
47.0 |
229.0 |
143.7 |
|
General industrial machinery |
842 |
672 |
635 |
836 |
-0.6 |
24.5 |
31.7 |
|
Road vehicles |
355 |
227 |
336 |
803 |
126.6 |
253.8 |
139.3 |
|
Electrical machinery & appliances |
702 |
544 |
554 |
803 |
14.4 |
47.5 |
44.9 |
|
Apparel & clothing |
732 |
533 |
497 |
730 |
-0.2 |
36.9 |
46.7 |
|
Organic chemicals |
365 |
306 |
471 |
682 |
86.8 |
122.9 |
44.7 |
|
Office machinery |
2,150 |
2,076 |
1,730 |
675 |
-68.6 |
-67.5 |
-61.0 |
|
Other transport equipment |
689 |
423 |
378 |
594 |
-13.8 |
40.3 |
57.4 |
Source: HMRC RTS, Q3 2022
The value of Scotland’s non-EU goods imports increased by over half (up 59.5%, £6.3 billion) to £16.8 billion. This was a larger percentage increase than for the UK overall (up 39.6%) and for the other UK regions. This was driven by imports of gas from non-EU countries, which increased by £6.3 billion (519.2%), which was likely due to the price of gas, as the net mass imported increased only by 15.5%.
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