UK government figures show Scotland’s fish and seafood sales to the region topped US$6m, with cereals, including bakery goods, up to nearly US$11m for the year. And while the Scottish export market is still dominated by whisky, food categories are showing significant promise, according to Susan Beattie, head of food and drink at Scottish Development International (SDI), a government trade promotion agency.
“We’ve seen this increase mainly driven by fish and seafood – we’ve seen that category grow by 40%. And we’ve also seen growth in cereals, particularly bakery – that’s at 17%. So we see a lot of opportunity across a wide range of food categories – dairy, gluten free, soft drinks, premium groceries – but it’s being driven on the food side primarily by the fish and seafood category,” said Beattie.
“Although growth’s been significant over the last year, this is really building on a strong pattern – if you look back over the last six years, we’ve seen growth of 96% since 2007,” she added.
Growth was dominated by the Middle East’s largest markets, with sales to the UAE up 25% to US$193m, of which US$181m was drink, pushing it from being the 15th biggest export market to eighth. Saudi Arabia posted growth of 30% to US$18.7m, all food, including US$5.7m in live animals, making it a bigger food market than the UAE.
Moving beyond whisky
SDI has identified the Middle East as a key growth market for Scottish food and drink exports, and is stepping up its efforts to promote its products in the region. The agency is keen to use the cachet of Scotch whisky as a way to promote a wider range of Scottish products.
“Scotch whisky is by far the biggest sector, and that’s true across all markets. That’s fantastic, but what we want to do is widen the products – we’ve been working with Scotland Food & Drink and other trade bodies to collectively support companies so they can widen the range of products, across a wider range of markets,” she said.
“We’ve invested very strongly, with a number of market specialists, who have feet on the ground in our priority markets – and the Middle East is one of those priority markets. We have Moira Bibb, based in SDI’s Dubai office, who is there gathering market insight, making connections for Scottish companies,” added Beattie.
Growing the base
She said the region offered significant potential for Scottish food and drink exporters: “We still have a long way to go – although we’ve seen huge growth, it’s from a relatively small base. We know there are a number of companies which are interested in that market, and have yet to exploit that opportunity, so with our help and support they can take that opportunity, and those companies already in the market can achieve additional growth.
“In terms of having significant export levels across a range of food categories, there’s a lot of opportunity there too. So I can see our efforts continuing, certainly over the next four or five years, to ensure we have a sustainable platform with a wide range of companies, and a wide range of food products,” she added.
Beattie said SDI’s direct presence in the region allowed it to help companies make the most of regional visits: “When our companies are coming out to Gulfood, for example, we’re making connections already for them – they’re having one-to-one meetings with people they know it’s worth spending their time with. We’ve seen some great results from doing that: for example, Genius Foods, which makes gluten-free bakery products, came out to Gulfood in 2014, and we introduced them to Spinneys – they’re now in 20 Spinneys stores.”