Scottish exporters make new China connections

This month’s column comes to you from Yantai in China’s Shandong Province where Scottish Chambers of Commerce is in the midst of its Business Mission 2018. The welcome we have received, and the s connections coming forward shows the Chambers Network has a unique and essential B2B role in Team Scotland’s internationalisation drive.

Yantai, a seaside city of seven million people, is one of the largest cities in Shandong, a coastal province midway between Beijing and Shanghai

We are here thanks to Yantai’s special relationship with Angus, which in turn is thanks to David Valentine MBE, former head of economic development for Angus Council.

David first came here in 1998 and has generously facilitated SCC’s contacts with old friends and business partners, such as Wang Shujian, now the province’s powerful vice governor.

Also joining us is Colin Loveday, current president of Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce and founder of two Dundee-based businesses, the B2B mobile communications specialist 4G Scotland and an AI and data analysis start-up, Predict Mobile.

Colin is here as part of his drive to direct DACC’s internationalisation drive and talk to potential investors in Dundee’s growing landscape of opportunity, particularly in tech industries.

China, he says, is an inspirational lesson in the power of scale, and the importance of ambition and vision.

In general Dundee Chamber’s incipient international programme is focused on the Nordic countries, but China, he says, is “far too big to ignore”.

“My message to Chamber members is that China is not some big hairy beast that we can’t access. It’s not as scary as people think.”

The Chambers pursues a smart “Shandong First” approach because Scotland’s scale - with a population far less than this relatively small Chinese provincial metropolis – precludes anything but a concentrated, smart approach.

Not that Shandong is a bite-sized morsel - with a population of nearly 100 million it is bigger than that of Thailand, Vietnam or France.

Were it a separate country it would be in the G20. It is however, a good fit with Scotland’s economic portfolio, with strong interests in energy, oil and gas, food and drink and tourism.

Like Scotland, it has a strong agricultural sector (dairy, peanuts) and also like Scotland, is a big producer of quality alcoholic drinks, with 140 wineries, consisting of around 40% of Chinese total production.

It wasn’t Confucius – a Shandong man as it happens – but contemporary Laozi who said: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

We have an ambitious task on our hands to make sure Scotland’s SMEs are making the inroads to trade with China, and exceed our trade performance against competitor nations.

A great place to start is the microcosm of China; Shandong.

The Scotttish delegation meet local leaders during the China visit