Over five and a half thousand jobs could be created in Scotland’s food and drink sector as companies expand.
A report from the Bank of Scotland “An Appetite for Growth: Ambition and Opportunity for Scotland’s food and drink industry” surveyed a broad cross section of over 100 Scottish food and drink businesses. The results help to confirm the industry’s position as one of Scotland’s fastest-growing sectors. The firms surveyed had an estimated combined turnover of £6bn were surveyed; two-thirds said they expected to increase their workforce in the next five years. More than 40% said they were planning to expand their export activities. In fact, because firms are increasing investment to target new export markets, the sector could “significantly exceed” the industry’s target of achieving annual turnover of £12.5bn by 2017.
Scotland’s Seafood
There’s also evidence of a significant shift in the regions abroad where Scottish food and drink companies were setting their sights. Until now, Western Europe has been the most significant market – now almost two-thirds of companies named the Far East/Asia as their key target.
According to Alasdair Gardner, managing director of commercial banking at Bank of Scotland, “Scotland’s food and drink sector already makes a tremendous contribution to Scotland’s economy and these results show that will only increase over the coming of years. The reality is that if this level of growth continues we will see levels of growth in the food and drink industry that could soon be alongside oil and gas on the export market.”
James Withers
Scotland Food & Drink
Scotland Food and Drink chief executive James Withers argued that the outlook for the industry had never been better. “The food and drink industry has been Scotland’s best performing domestic sector in the past five years and its fastest growing export sector. Ambitious sales and export targets are in place for 2017, but the rapid progress so far means we are having to upscale our ambitions already.”
He added that next year would provide an excellent showcase for Scotland’s produce. “The hosting of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, the Ryder Cup and second Scottish Homecoming next year,” he said, “will provide an unprecedented opportunity for the industry to play to its strengths. But the legacy opportunity beyond 2014 could be worth much more as many thousands of visitors return home with a taste for Scottish produce and hundreds of millions of television viewers are left with a positive image of what Scotland has to offer.”