The value of retail sales of Scottish food and drinks brands across Britain rose to almost £2 billion in the year to May 2014, led by the popularity of Scotch whisky, new analysis has shown.
Famous Grouse, Bell's Whisky, Whyte & Mackay and Grant's Whisky were the top four Scottish food and drinks brands during the period.
The whisky brands, along with other famous names such as Baxters, Tunnock's and Irn-Bru, helped boost the value of retail sales by over 36% since 2007.
Between May 2013 and May 2014, the estimated value of retail sales of Scottish food and drink products was up 3.3%, according to the Scottish Government analysis of grocery purchases across Scotland, England and Wales.
Scotland's food minister Richard Lochhead said: "Business is booming for Scottish food and drink, not just here in Scotland but across these islands and around the world.
"Our global reputation for top-quality food and drink with unrivalled provenance is driving up sales of iconic Scottish brands and products at home and further afield - as demonstrated by the strong and increasing demand for Scottish food and drink brands in England and Wales.
"This continued growth in these markets - especially in the past year as we get closer to the referendum - shows that consumers across these islands purchase our produce on the basis of taste and quality above all else."
The analysis comes as new figures show that almost a fifth (19%) of Scotch whisky exports go to Commonwealth countries.
Last year, exports to the Commonwealth were up 1% on 2012 to £793 million, from a global total of £4.3 billion, according to the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA).
Singapore is the largest market in the Commonwealth for Scotch whisky with exports of £330 million last year, followed by South Africa with exports of £163 million, Australia at £84 million and India with £69 million.
Economic growth and increasing disposable incomes mean new markets are also emerging in parts of Africa, the SWA said.
Exports to Nigeria rose 43% to almost £14 million last year, making it the seventh biggest market in the Commonwealth.
David Frost, Scotch Whisky Association chief executive, said: "In many Commonwealth countries, Scotch whisky has been popular for years.
"As economies in other countries develop, young, professional consumers are developing a taste for Scotch whisky which they rightly regard as an aspirational drink of quality."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article