The world’s appetite for Scotland’s manufactured goods was revealed in official figures released yesterday.
The Scottish Government said the volume of manufactured good sales to overseas markets grew by 1.8% during the third quarter of 2014.
Exports of refined petroleum, chemical and pharmaceutical products grew by 8.9% and food and drink sales were up by 0.6%.
But the total volume of exports fell by 0.5% on an annual basis, despite double-digit percentage increases for some categories.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “Scotland is an immensely wealthy and productive country and our economy continues to flourish, making this country one of the best places to do business.
“Today’s figures show that two of the largest exporting industries – refined petroleum, chemical and pharmaceutical products and food and drink – enjoyed the third consecutive quarter of expansion.
“These statistics follow on from the Scottish Government’s Global Connections Survey, published on Monday, which showed that Scotland’s exported goods and services were worth a record £27.9billion in 2013, a rise of 7.2% on the previous year.”
Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service director Nick Shields said: “It is great to see exports rising by 1.8% on the previous quarter, with strong performances in particular from chemicals and food and drink sectors.
“Export performance is a bellweather for the health of an economy, and in particular the manufacturing sector which drives around 60% of our exports.
“A high level of exports indicates that an economy is productive, making products that are not readily available in foreign markets and at a price customers are willing to pay.
“Whilst it is encouraging to see continued growth, we still have a long way to go to meet our export targets.
“We know that 55% of our exports come from a small number of large businesses. We need to expand this pool of export-oriented businesses by helping companies manufacture innovative products for the global market in the most competitive way possible.”