By Alessandro Brunelli
Scottish manufactured exports have grown over both during the last quarter of 2011 and the whole year.
The data was included in the latest Index of Manufactured Exports, which was revealed today by Scotland’s Chief Statistician.
The third quarter of 2011 saw a 0.2 percent increase in the exports, while the yearly figures showed a 2.7 percent rise.
Although the data remain positive, the growth in the third quarter is significantly smaller than that of the previous quarters, when manufactured exports had increased by respectively 3.8 and 1.5 percent.
The main boost in the last quarter came from the Drink Sector, whose exports rose by 3.0 percent in real terms, while also Metal Products (+10.7 percent), Other Manufacturing (+3.0 percent) and Mechanical Engineering (+2.5 percent) performed well.
During the same period falls were noticed in the Chemical Industries (-3.3 percent) and Electrical and Instrument Engineering (-2.7 percent).
On an annual basis there were significant surges in Food and Drink (+4.6 percent), Other Manufacturing (+11.6 percent) and Chemicals (+3.4 percent) exports, while Engineering and Allied Industries (-0.8 percent) lost some ground.
