SCOTTISH companies could boost their share of exports by focusing on the US, China and Europe over the next two decades, accountancy firm Ernst & Young believes.
EY also highlights a need for Scottish companies to develop a stronger position in India over the medium term. But it signals a belief that Brazil and Russia are not necessarily the best fit for exporters in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK.
Referring to America, China and Europe as the “ACE” economies, and citing estimated gross output figures for these markets in 2020 and 2030, EY market leader for Scotland Mark Harvey said: “Scotland’s exporters should target ACE economies to boost business. In recent years, there has been a push towards the BRIC [Brazil, Russia, India and China] economies but these are not necessarily the best fit for Scottish, and UK, companies. Our analysis shows we should focus on and cater for our capabilities through a mix of high-growth and high-value markets.”
EY noted that HM Revenue & Customs’ trade statistics showed that businesses north of the Border accounted for seven per cent of UK exports in terms of value during the year to June, with the US, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany being Scotland’s top five export partners.
Mr Harvey said: “Scottish companies already have a strong footing in some of the key markets for export expansion…Businesses need to focus on maximising these relationships and exploring new opportunities for exporting to China, which is not currently amongst our top export partners but remains our second-highest source of imports after the USA.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here