Manufacturing accounts for more than half of Scotland's exports

The electronics sector saw the largest slump, while food and tobacco also experienced a significant drop.

The report said it was likely that economic uncertainty following the 11 September terror attacks on the United States had a "significant effect" on the figures.

The provisional estimates were published by the Scottish Executive on Wednesday.

They said that export sales fell by 24.9% in real terms in the manufacturing sector during 2002, dropping from �25bn to �18.8bn.

Food and tobacco

There was a decrease of 21.3% in current prices, from �18.6bn to �14.6bn.

The figures suggested a 38% drop in the electronics sector in current prices.

Food and tobacco fell by 19% , while paper, printing and publishing fell by 9%.

However, there was a 52% increase in sales of metal products and an 18% rise in transport equipment.

Current prices

The manufacturing sector accounted for 64% of all exports from Scotland in 2001.

The figures also showed a fall in exports during the last quarter of 2002.

The seasonally adjusted figure for the final three months of the year was �3.383bn in current prices, compared to �3.504bn in the previous quarter.