Over 100 international buyers seek Scottish food & drink
OVER 100 influential food and drink buyers from across the globe are set to gather in Edinburgh as part of Scotland Food & Drink’s ‘Showcasing Scotland 2024‘ event.
The international buyers are set to meet with 150 Scottish food and drink businesses from across the country in a one-to-one meeting scenario in a bid to open up the global market to the best of Scottish produce.
Iain Baxter, chief executive at Scotland Food & Drink, said: “The sheer number of buyers attending Showcasing Scotland from every corner of the globe demonstrates the power and reputation of Scotland’s food and drink industry.”
Buyers from across China, the United Arab Emirates, America, South Korea, France and Japan will gather together to meet with the food and drink manufacturers in the hopes of generating massive deals for the industry.
Ahead of the one-to-one business meetings, the international and UK buyers will attend immersive sector tours to gain first-hand experience of the production process, heritage and innovation from brands across the entire industry.
The event is set to conclude on 7 March and forms an integral part of Scotland Food & Drink’s ‘Sustaining Scotland. Supplying the World’ strategy which aims to deliver on a £4billion growth opportunity for the sector.
Baxter said: “New commercial relationships and routes to markets in the rest of the UK and abroad will be opened up for many Scottish food and drink producers over the coming days.
“That’s an exciting prospect and we’re proud to have supported the attendee suppliers to get ready for scaling their operations and serving overseas markets through our extensive Supplier Support Programme, powered by The Academy in the run-up to this week.”
Rueben Aitken, managing director of international operations at Scottish Enterprise, said: “I could not be more proud of the quality and provenance of the produce we have to showcase to the world. Over the next few days, we will help our exceptional food and drink businesses convert our world-renowned status into sales.
“It’s testament to the strong relationships that our overseas colleagues cultivate that we have secured attendance from around 100 overseas buyers for this event.”
