£4.5 will drive food and drink sector toward £30bn target

A £4.5 million fund to help Scotland’s food and drink industry achieve its target of doubling turnover value to £30 billion by 2030 was launched yesterday.

The Food and Drink Export Plan is jointly funded by the Scottish Government, the in d ustry and Scottish Development International – and will cover the second phase of the plan which will last until 2024.

The cash is to be used to help Scottish companies take their products into new and existing markets, and “in-market specialists” will be employed to offer expert advice, forge stronger relationships with buyers and encourage Scottish businesses to develop new products.

Some £2.7 m of funding comes from the Scottish Government, with a further £0.9 m from Scottish Development International, the latter figure matched by industry bodies such as Quality Meat Scotland, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, Opportunity North East, Scotland Food & Drink, Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation and Seafood Scotland .

Announcing the initiative in Falkirk yesterday, rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing said :“Scotland’s food and drink sector has grown year on year, increasing by 78 per cent since 2007. Last year exports reached a record £6.3 bn, in part thanks to the success of the first phase of the export plan.

But while he said it was an exciting time for the sector, he added that the need to explore and exploit international markets had been given extra urgency by the uncertainty surrounding the UK’ s future trading relationship with its single largest market – Europe.