SOME OF Scotland’s finest produce will be given significant digital exposure after an international food and drink event kicked-off in Singapore.
More than 150 industry leaders and stakeholders attended the launch of the Scotland Food & Drink Festival today (Thursday, 16 February), a week-long online campaign that will be hosted by Singapore’s largest e-commerce and online grocer, Lazada’s RedMart.
The festival will showcase the Scottish Store on RedMart, which features more than 400 products from approximately 130 different Scottish brands, including Scotch Whisky, smoked salmon and shortbread. Since the opening of the Scottish Store on RedMart in November, monthly orders related to products from Scotland have doubled.
Listings for an additional 14 Scottish companies to sell their products on RedMart have been secured and these new brands will also be introduced during the Scotland Food & Drink Festival.
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The launch of the festival was attended by Scottish Government Trade Minister Ivan McKee, who is in South-East Asia on a week-long visit to further enhance trade and investment links between Scotland and the region.
Mr McKee said: “It was great to celebrate the launch of the Scotland Food and Drink Festival today in Singapore, which is a key partner for Scotland and for the Scottish Food & Drink sector.
“Scotland’s food and drink producers have rightly earned a national and international reputation for quality and provenance at a time when consumers are increasingly interested in how their food is produced.
“I have no doubt sales of Scottish produce will grow over the coming years in South East Asia as people continue to discover and appreciate our outstanding natural larder.”
The Scotland Food & Drink Festival is the latest promotional campaign to drive traffic to the Scottish Shop on RedMart. Previous promotional activities have been tied to busy consumer periods and national holidays, such as St Andrew’s Day, Christmas and Chinese New Year.
Singapore is Scotland’s 11th largest export market globally and its leading export market in Asia, worth £730 million and accounting for 2.1% of Scotland’s international exports in 2019. Food & Drink is the biggest export sector with Singapore ranked third in the world for exports of Scotch whisky, worth £311m in 2022, and ranked seventh globally for exports of whole fresh salmon, worth £6m in 2021.
Neil McInnes, Head of South-East Asia at Scottish Development International (SDI), said: “Singapore offers a potentially lucrative market for Scottish food and drink companies, with their commitment to quality and sustainability chiming with Singaporean retailers and consumers alike.
“The Scotland Food & Drink Festival on RedMart will further raise the profile of our country’s world-class produce. It will also drive even more traffic to the online Scottish Store, which has generated significant orders for food and drink exporters since the end of last year.
“We’re seeing an increasing appetite from Scottish companies to explore new market opportunities here in Singapore and the wider South-East Asia region. Our in-market specialists will continue to bang the drum for Scotland’s unrivalled food and drink sector and stand ready to assist firms considering doing business here.”
Food and drink remains one of the largest industry sectors in Scotland, with global exports of Scottish food and drink valued at £6.2 billion in 2021.
