£77m of prospective sales generated for Scottish food and drink producers at Showcasing Scotland

Food and drink is one of Scotland’s largest global exports, worth £8.1bn annually to the Scottish economy, and has been highlighted as a key area for driving the £4bn growth target of the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership’s national industry strategy, ‘Sustaining Scotland. Supplying the World’.

 Held in Edinburgh from 5-7 March 2024, Showcasing Scotland is organised by Scotland Food & Drink on behalf of the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership with support from the Scottish Government. The event welcomed over 100 of the world’s most influential food and drink buyers to conduct 1,822 official meetings with over 100 Scottish exporting or export ready food and drink businesses.

92% of the Scottish producers attending Showcasing Scotland reported that doors had been opened to new markets as a result of the event. The suppliers also identified the biggest export opportunities in Asia, North America, Europe, and the rest of the UK.

Showcasing Scotland 2024 brought together buyers from the rest of the UK and 22 countries, including; China, United Arab Emirates, USA, South Korea, France, and Japan, for a series of speed-dating-style meetings and sector-focused tours.

Of those buyers, 37.5% said that they were ‘certain’ to spend more on Scottish products as a result of the event. 62.5% said they were ‘very likely’ to spend more on Scottish products.

More than 90% (91.6%) of buyers said that they were most impressed by the quality of products on show.

Ahead of the 1-1 business meetings, international and UK buyers attended immersive sector tours to gain first-hand experience of the production process, heritage and innovation across all sectors of the industry.

The Scottish producers attending were all selected for their scalability and were supported in the run-up to the event to get ready for scaling their operations and serving overseas markets through Scotland Food & Drink’s Supplier Support Programme, powered by The Academy.

Iain Baxter, Chief Executive at Scotland Food & Drink, said: “Adding £77m to the pipeline of Scottish food and drink producers is an incredible result by any measure. We have a global reputation for the quality and variety of our food and drink, demonstrated by the buyers’ desire to buy more from us.

“We welcomed so many inspirational people from across the world, fostering new commercial links, and friendships that should pay dividends for some of Scotland’s best and most innovative producers.”

Delegates were welcomed to the event by First Minister, Humza Yousaf. He said: “Our food and drink sector is a massive success story – it adds around £15 billion each year to our economy, with more than 17,000 businesses employing almost 130,000 people.

“I want to see this sector growing in the years to come, and events like Showcasing Scotland are absolutely vital in helping to spread Scotland’s finest produce across the globe.

“I look forward to continuing our engagement with the Scottish food and drink sector and hope all those who travelled from far and wide enjoyed their time in Edinburgh.”

Scotland Food & Drink worked closely with members of the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership to develop and deliver the event including Scottish Enterprise, which attracted overseas buyers to the event.

Reuben Aitken, Managing Director of International Operations at Scottish Enterprise, said: “The buzz and excitement generated during the event was fantastic to see and hear, with over 1,800 meetings taking place. Our food and drink businesses successfully promoted the outstanding quality and provenance of Scottish produce, and we’ll now focus on helping them secure sales and grow their international revenue.”