Scottish food producers can emulate the success of Scotch whisky in East Asia, destination of 25% of Scotch exports, James Withers, head of the industry group Scotland Food & Drink, has claimed

He said: "We need to follow the whisky model. One-quarter of Scotch whisky now goes to Asia-Pacific [region], whereas it's only 7% of our food exports. In value terms this is only slightly more than our exports to Belgium.

"The food and drink export story has been phenomenal, achieving a 50% rise in value, but we need a much more balanced set of markets. We need to show more ambition to move into new markets."

Withers was speaking prior to leaving for Hong Kong, where a delegation of established and rising Scottish brands will debut at HOFEX, the Asia-Pacific region's largest food and drink exhibition,

He outlined the strong appeal of Scotland's premium food and drink products, particularly for consumers in China and Japan, where he said they were "a perfect fit for the top end of these markets".

Withers added: "There are 150 cities in China that have a bigger population than the whole of Scotland. Of course, we're never going to feed Asia, but even winning a small corner of these markets would be transformational."

He said that Scotland should also seek to emulate Ireland and New Zealand, which have already made major inroads into China's burgeoning market for imported dairy produce, stating: "We potentially have a better brand in Scotland, but we're just not as good at shouting about it."

Last year, HOFEX occupied nearly 50,000 square metres of exhibition space, hosting 1800 companies from 48 countries.

Participants in this year's Scottish Development International-sponsored Scottish stand include Walkers Shortbread, First Milk, Mama Tea, Mackie's and Braehead Foods.

Separately, Finance Secretary John Swinney will next week visit Japan and South Korea to promote Scottish food and drink, alongside renewables, life sciences, financial services and textiles.