Liberal Democrats in Business

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Fall In Manufactured Exports

5.05.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 6th Jul 2005

Data on Scottish Manufactured Exports for the period up to the first quarter of 2005 were published today showing a fall of 2.3 per cent in real terms in the quarter and a fall of 2.1 per cent over the year.

Enterprise Minister Nicol Stephen said:

"The overall reduction in exports since late 2000 is largely due to the electrical and instrument engineering sector (E&IE).

"The performance of this sector has a disproportionate effect on Scottish manufacturing, compared to other countries, because E&IE is Scotland's main exporting sector. This sector is still going through a period of restructuring, therefore the decline recorded in E&IE, both over the quarter and year, had a considerable effect on the overall performance of total manufactured exports."

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