Scottish Annual Business Statistics 2020

Data relating to the Production (including Manufacturing), Construction and Service Sectors in Scotland.


Industry Profiles

Please find below summary profiles for six different industry sectors.

The underlying data for these profiles is available from the Scottish Annual Business Statistics (SABS) 2020 - Time Series Tables.

Profile of Scottish Manufacturing Sector

 
  • in 2020, cash terms Gross Value Added (GVA) in manufacturing amounted to £11.0 billion. Compared to GVA in services sector of £49.3 billion (excludes the financial sector and parts of the public sector) and £6.6 billion in construction.  The remaining sectors, covered by the Annual Business Survey (ABS), amounted to £14.0 billion (oil and gas extraction accounted for £5.6 billion of this, note that the ABS includes off-shore oil and gas activity)
  • at a broad sector level, between 2019 and 2020, GVA in manufacturing fell by around £2.0 billion (-15.4%)
  • Scottish manufacturing accounted for around 6.5% of total UK manufacturing in terms of turnover and 7.4% of GVA in 2020
  • the three largest contributions to GVA within manufacturing in 2020 came from the beverages industry [SIC 11] at £2.0 billion (18.4% of total manufacturing GVA), food products industry [SIC 10] at £1.4 billion (12.4%) & fabricated metal products industry (except machinery and equipment) [SIC 25] at £1.0 billion (9.0%). Together these three industry divisions accounted for around 40% of total manufacturing GVA
  • in 2020, within manufacturing, foreign-owned companies accounted for 37.8% of GVA and 30.3% of employment, whilst UK (Scotland registered) firms accounted for 47.6% of GVA and 60.0% of employment.  By comparison, in the services sector, foreign-owned companies accounted for 23.1% of GVA and 16.8% of employment, whilst UK (Scotland registered) firms accounted for 57.0% of GVA and 63.5% of employment
  • the local authority areas contributing most to total GVA within manufacturing in 2020 were Glasgow City (8.7%), Aberdeenshire (7.5%) and Fife (7.5%)

Profile of Scottish Spirits Sector

 
  • in 2020, Gross Value Added (GVA) in the Scottish spirits sector was £1.7 billion, whilst turnover stood at £3.5 billion
  • the Scottish spirits sector accounts for a vast proportion of the total UK output of the industry (around 85% for turnover and 88% of GVA in 2020). Compared to the whole of manufacturing, where Scotland accounted for around 7% of turnover and GVA of total UK manufacturing in 2020
  • the importance of the spirits sector in the Scottish Beverages industry is demonstrated by the fact that it accounted for 78% of its total turnover and 86% of its total GVA in 2020
  • further, in 2020, spirits accounted for 11% of turnover and 16% of GVA in Scottish manufacturing as a whole
  • in 2020, average GVA per head (£204,700) was over three times greater than that found in the manufacturing sector as a whole (£61,700). Whilst labour costs per head (£53,500) were around 50% higher compared to total for manufacturing sector (£35,800) in 2020
  • the top five local authority areas in terms of GVA in 2020 (Glasgow City, West Dunbartonshire, Fife, Moray and North Lanarkshire) together accounted for 31% of the business sites, 61% of employment, 62% of turnover and 68% of GVA in the spirits sector              

Profile of Scottish Shipbuilding Sector

 
  • in 2020, Gross Value Added (GVA) in the Scottish shipbuilding sector was around £0.3 billion, whilst turnover stood at £0.9 billion                                                              
  • Scottish shipbuilding accounted for a fairly significant proportion of total UK output of the industry (around 18% for turnover and 12% for GVA in 2020). Compared to the whole of manufacturing, where Scotland accounted for around 7% of turnover and GVA of total UK manufacturing in 2020                                                                      
  • shipbuilding is a very significant contributor in the Scottish Transport related manufacturing sectors. It accounted for 38% of total GVA in the related sectors (worth £0.7 billion in 2020)                                                              
  • the top three local authority areas in 2020 (Glasgow City, Aberdeenshire and Fife) accounted for 27% of the business sites, 72% of employment, 80% of turnover and 64% of GVA in the sector                                                      
  • in 2020, the shipbuilding sector accounted for around 3% of turnover and 2% of GVA in Scottish manufacturing as a whole

Profile of Scottish Aerospace Sector 

 
  • in 2020, Gross Value Added (GVA) in the Scottish aerospace sector was around £0.3 billion (4.6% of UK total), whilst turnover stood around £1.6 billion (6.6% of UK total)                                                                
  • aerospace is a significant contributor in the Scottish Transport related manufacturing sectors. It accounted for 42% of total GVA in the related sectors (worth £0.7 billion in 2020)                                                              
  • the top three local authority areas in 2020 (South Ayrshire, Aberdeen City and Renfrewshire) accounted for 34% of the business sites in the Aerospace sector, 79% of employment, 94% of turnover and 85% of GVA
  • ​​​​​​in 2020, the aerospace sector accounted for around 5% of turnover and 3% of GVA in Scottish manufacturing as a whole 

Profile of Scottish Construction Sector

 
  • in 2020, cash terms Gross Value Added (GVA) in construction amounted to £6.6 billion. Compared to GVA in services sector of £49.3 billion (excludes the financial sector and parts of the public sector) and £11.0 billion in manufacturing. The remaining sectors, covered by the Annual Business Survey (ABS), amounted to £14.0 billion (oil and gas extraction accounted for £5.6 billion of this, note that the ABS includes off-shore oil and gas activity)
  • at a broad sector level, between 2019 and 2020, GVA in construction fell by £1.4 billion (-17.9%)
  • Scottish construction accounted for around 6.8% of total UK construction in terms of turnover and 7.5% of GVA in 2020  
  • the sub-sectors making the largest contribution to construction GVA in 2020 were Electrical, plumbing and other construction installation activities (26%) and Construction of residential and non-residential buildings (25%)
  • in 2020, within construction, foreign-owned companies accounted for 13.0% of GVA and 10.3% of employment, whilst UK (Scotland registered) firms accounted for 75.7% of GVA and 82.6% of employment. By comparison, within manufacturing, foreign-owned companies accounted for 37.8% of GVA and 30.3% of employment, whilst UK (Scotland registered) firms accounted for 47.6% of GVA and 60.0% of employment
  • ​​​​the local authority areas contributing most to total GVA within construction in 2020 were Glasgow City (14.0%), North Lanarkshire (8.4%) and West Lothian (8.3%)    

Profile of Scottish Retail Sector

 
  • in 2020, Gross Value Added (GVA) in the Scottish retail sector was £5.6 billion (7.8% of UK total), whilst turnover stood at £22.8 billion (6.0% of UK total)
  • GVA in the Scottish retail sector fell by 6.9% between 2019 and 2020 (from £6.0 billion to £5.6 billion)        
  • the sub-sectors making the largest contribution to retail GVA in 2020 were Retail sale in non-specialised stores (45%) (e.g. supermarkets) and Retail sale of other goods in specialised stores (30%) (e.g. clothing shops, chemists)
  • the top six local authority areas in terms of GVA in 2020 (Glasgow City, Highland, Moray, City of Edinburgh, Aberdeen City & Aberdeenshire) together accounted for 41% of the business sites, 41% of employment, 42% of turnover and 50% of GVA in the retail sector
  • retail is an important contributor to the services sector (excludes the financial sector and parts of the public sector). Within services, the three largest contributions to GVA in 2020 came from: Retail trade [SIC 47] at £5.6 billion (11.4% of total services GVA), wholesale trade [SIC 46] at £4.0 billion (8.1%) and architectural & engineering activities [SIC 71] at £3.9 billion (7.9%)         

 

Contact

For enquiries about this publication please contact:

Marina Curran

Business & Innovation Statistics

Office of the Chief Economic Adviser

e-mail: marina.curran@gov.scot or industrystatistics@gov.scot

For general enquiries about Scottish Government statistics please contact:

Office of the Chief Statistician

Telephone: 0131 244 0442

e-mail: statistics.enquiries@gov.scot

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