| Rising exports to different corners of the world helped Scotch whisky exports to reach their highest ever value of £2.5 bn in 2006 surpassing the previous best of £2.4 bn reached in 1997, according to figures released by Scotch Whisky Association and reported by beveragedaily.com.
Single malts still only account for around a tenth of Scotch exports but they broke the £400m barrier for the first time in 2006.
SWA's figures show Scotch has scored well in the emerging markets in Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe that have also boosted others in the alcoholic drinks industry, mainly brewers.
China entered the top 10 of Scotch export markets by value for the first time, after shipments rose 27 per cent to £58m last year.
Poland continued to emerge a strong and growing market with a 42 per cent rise in shipments, although the exports was only £10m. This, together with six and seven per cent rises in the US , France and Italy , helped to hold off significant declines in Spain.
A significant negative was a six per cent drop in Scotch exports to India , to £24m. This is understood to be due to the high import tariffs on wine and spirits.
The European Commission recently asked a WTO dispute panel to intervene. Both the US and Australia have also opened 'consultation' with India at WTO, the first stage of the dispute process. A WTO ruling is expected by the end of 2008 at the latest.
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The import duties remained static in 2006 and same as in 2005. DelWine likes to believe that the fall was due to a correspondent increase in the consumption of wine- a rather optimistic assumption- editor |
