What we could sell more of

A Trading Nation focusses on the following sectors:

• financial and business services
• food and drink
• life and chemical sciences
• engineering
• energy
• technology, digital and media

Evidence shows these sectors are where Scotland's exports have the most opportunity to grow.

How sectors were chosen

Each sector was chosen based on evidence. This evidence drew on a range of quantitative and qualitative sources, that looked at:

• what Scotland is currently selling abroad
• the number of people and businesses there are to sell to
• where people or businesses are importing more
• the things people and business want or need, across the world
• where Scotland is well placed to supply things compared to our competitors

Comparing countries

Different countries were compared to work out which countries offered opportunities to grow:

• across sectors
• for specific sectors only

This showed that the top 4 countries had opportunities in all chosen sectors. While, the rest of the countries had opportunities in only some of the chosen sectors.

You can find out more about how sectors were chosen on gov.scot