SCOTCH EXPORTS DELIVER £3.9bn BOOST FOR BRITAIN

38 bottles of Scotch whisky are shipped overseas every second

99m cases of 12 70cl bottles were exported worldwide in 2015

Laid end-to-end they would stretch about 18,750 miles – or six times the distance between Edinburgh and New York

More Scotch is sold in one month in France than Cognac in a year Exports of the spirit are worth £3.9bn a year

Around 1.6m people visited Scotch whisky distilleries in 2015 There are 20m casks maturing in warehouses in Scotland SCOTCH whisky creates almost £5bn a year for the UK economy, a study says.

Research commissioned by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) found that the industry supports more than 40,000 jobs across Britain.

It was also the biggest net contributor to the UK’s trade in goods in 2015, said the study, published as drinkers raised a dram on Burns Night yesterday.

The study said the sector directly contributes more than £3.2bn to the Scottish economy, adding: ‘When the rest of the UK is taken into account there is a UK-wide impact of more than £4.9bn.’

More than 10,500 people work in the sector in Scotland alone and almost £1.3bn is paid in salaries.

Exports of whisky are worth £3.9bn each year, while imports in the supply chain, such as packaging for products and casks, total £200m, giving a trade balance of £3.7bn.

Julie Hesketh-Laird, SWA acting chief executive, called for UK tax on the drink to be cut. She said: ‘Scotch whisky is one of the UK’s most strategically important industries. Without valuable exports of around £4bn a year, the UK’s trade deficit in goods would be 3pc larger.

‘The current tax of 77pc on an average priced bottle of Scotch is a burden.’