Scotland's companies see exports slide £220m

The value of Scottish exports has dropped by more than £220 million in the past year but the government claims Scotland is outperforming the rest of the UK

The 6.7 per cent drop is in contrast to the 11.15 per cent rise seen across the UK as a whole between the first quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010, according to the analysis, released today.

Northern Ireland saw the biggest decline, with its exports dropping by 133.5m, or 10.3 per cent, over that period.

In Scotland exports dropped by 220.6m, according to the analysis by the foreign exchange team at Close Treasury which is part of merchant banking group Close Brothers.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "In fact, the National Statistics figures published by HMRC on 10 June 10 show that the value of Scottish exports of goods rose by 3.5 per cent to 14.8 billion during the year to March 2010, compared with a fall of 5.3 per cent for the UK as a whole during the same period.

"In other words, Scotland outperformed the rest of the UK.

"This reflects the success and resilience of Scottish companies who are competing in tough global markets.

"The Scottish Government and our agencies are doing all we can to sustain their success."