Scotland is a very fortunate country with a secret vast wealth. Heres a short insight... Scotland has a large abundance of natural resources from fertile land, suitable for agriculture, to oil and gas. In terms of mineral resources, Scotland produces coal, zinc, oil and gas,petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, lead, gold, tin, limestone, salt, clay, chalk, gypsum, potash, silica sand, slate list is endless. the Scottish economy produces today, from textiles, whisky and shortbread to jet engines, buses, computer software, ships, avionics and microelectronics to banking, insurance, investment management and other related financial services. Only about one quarter of our land is under cultivation - mainly in cereals. Barley, wheat and potatoes are grown in eastern parts of Scotland such as Aberdeenshire, Moray, Highland, Fife and the Scottish Borders. The Tayside and Angus area is a centre of production of soft fruits such as strawberries, raspberries and loganberries, Hill farming is also prominent in the Southern Uplands in the south of Scotland, resulting in the production of wool, Lamb and mutton. Cattle-Rearing particularly in the east and south of Scotland results in the production of large amounts of beef The waters surrounding Scotland are some of the richest in Europe. Fishing is an economic mainstay in parts of the North East of Scotland and along the west coast, with important fish markets in places such as Aberdeen and Mallaig. Fish and shellfish such as herring, crab, lobster, haddock and cod are landed at ports such as Fraserburgh, Stornoway, Lerwick and Oban. Never mind Salmon farms that generate 100s of million of £ For example Scotland is now the largest farmed salmon producing country in the EU, producing around 150,000 tonnes of premium salmon in 2010. Scottish Farmed salmon was the first non-French product to achieve the French Governments Label Rouge quality award, We supply premium Scottish seafood including; Salmon, Trout, Langoustine, Scallops, Crab, Lobster, Mackerel, Herring, Mussels and Razor Clams. These products are available fresh or frozen. We also supply hot and cold smoked salmon and trout and hot smoked mackerel. Scotland is endowed with some of the best energy resources in Europe, and is a net exporter of electricity, with a generating capacity of 10.1GW primarily from coal, oil, gas and nuclear generation. The Scottish Government has set ambitious targets that 18% of Scotlands electricity generation be derived from renewable sources by 2010, rising to 40% by 2020. Currently renewable energy sources provide Scotland with 35% of its electricity production,with onshore wind generation making the largest contribution, and supporting several thousand jobs. There are many windfarms along the coast and hills, with plans to create one of the worlds largest onshore windfarms at Barvas Moor on the Hebridean island of Lewis. There have also been major developments in harnessing the wave and tidal potential around the Scottish Coast, with the LIMPET (Land Installed Marine Power Energy Transformer) energy converter being installed off the island of Islay, which produces power for the National Grid. LIMPET, developed in Scotland, is the worlds first commercial scale wave-energy device. Scotland has been supplanted with the rise in the manufacture of lighter, less labour intensive products such as optoelectronics, software, chemical products and derivatives as well as life sciences. The Engineering and Defence sectors employ around 30,000 people in Scotland. The principal companies operating in the sector include; BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Raytheon, Alexander Dennis, Thales, Selex Galileo and Babcock Whisky is probably the best known of Scotlands manufactured products. Exports have increased by 87% in the past decade and it contributes over £4.25billion to the UK economy, making up a quarter of all its food and drink revenues. It is also one of the UKs overall top five manufacturing export earners and it supports around 35,000 jobs. Companies such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard have been in Scotland since the 1950s being joined in the 1980s by others such as Sun Microsystems (now owned by Oracle). 45,000 people are employed by electronics and electronics-related firms, accounting for 12% of manufacturing output. Today, Scotland produces 28% of Europe’s PCs; more than seven per cent of the world’s PCs; and 29% of Europe’s notebooks. Games industry The games industry in Scotland is thriving with more than 50 companies based predominantly in Dundee and the Tayside area, but also in Edinburgh, Glasgow and beyond. In modern times, Knitwear and tweed are seen as traditional cottage industries but names like Pringle have given Scottish knitwear and apparel a presence on the international market. Despite increasing competition from low-cost textile producers in SE Asia and the Indian subcontinent, textiles in Scotland is still a major employer with a workforce of around 22,000. Furthermore the textiles industry is the 7th largest exporter in Scotland accounting for over 3% of all Scottish manufactured products. Scotland builds around 24,000 new homes per year, about 1% of its existing dwelling stock. The home building industry in Scotland directly and indirectly contributed around £5 billion to the Scottish economy - thats 6% of GDP and greater than that of higher profile industries such as agriculture, fishing, electronics and tourism. The net value of new building and repairs, maintenance and improvements combined is just under £11.6 billion, which is 14.0% of Scottish GDP Edinburgh is Europes 14th largest financial centre,with influential financial players such as The Royal Bank of Scotland, the Bank of Scotland, Scottish Widows and Standard Life all having a presence in the city. Centred primarily on the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, the financial services industry in the Scottish Economy expanded greatly in recent years, with a growth rate of over 35% over the last 5 years ,The financial services sector employs around 95,000 people and generates £7bn or 7% of Scotlands GDP. Nowadays Scotland is one of the worlds biggest fund management centres with over £300bn worth of assets directly serviced or managed in the country.Scottish fund management centres have a major presence in areas such as pensions, property funds, investment trusts as well as in retail and private client markets. Similarly asset servicing on behalf of fund managers has become an increasingly important component of the financial services industry in Scotland with Scottish based companies providing expertise in securities servicing, investment accounting, performance measurement, trustee and depositary services and treasury services. It is estimated that tourism accounts for 3% of Scotlands economic output. Scotland is a well-developed tourist destination with attractions ranging from unspoilt countryside, mountains and abundant history. Tourism is responsible for sustaining 200,000 jobs mainly in the service sector, with tourist spending averaging at £4bn per year.tourism is rising in Scotland and voted as one of the top destination to visit in the world. Exports International Exports: The total value of international exports from Scotland in 2011 (excluding oil and gas) is estimated at £23.9 billion, of which £14.7 billion was from the manufacturing sector and £7.7 billion from the services sector. Industry Results: The top 5 exporting industries in 2011 were food & beverages (£4.2 billion), manufacture of coke, refined petroleum and chemical products (£3.7 billion), manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products (£1.4 billion), financial and insurance activities (£1.4 billion) and manufacture of machinery and equipment NEC (£1.4 billion). Export Destinations: The top five export destinations in 2011 were the USA, Netherlands, France, Germany, and Belgium. Rest of UK Exports: The total value of exports from Scotland to the rest of UK in 2011 (excluding oil and gas) is estimated at £45.5 billion, of which £24.5 billion was from the services sector and £11.6 billion from the manufacturing sector. Further statistics can be found on the following link. scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Economy/Q/pno/0 Quarterly Statistics Quarterly National Accounts Scotland for Quarter 4 2013 (14 May 2014) Retail Sales Index for Scotland (RSIS) for Quarter 1, 2014 (30 April 2014) Index of Manufactured Exports (IME) for Quarter 4, 2013 (23 April 2014) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for Quarter 4, 2013 (16 April 2014) Annual Statistics Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) 2012-13 (12 March 2014) Global Connections Survey (GCS) 2012 (29 January 2014) Input-Output (I-O) Tables 1998-2009 (15 May 2013) The economy statistics Publications archive contains links to our previous publications. This is just a small insight into Scotland wealth!
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 17:10:08 +0000
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