Slight fall in food and drink GVA

Jan 7 2013

The contribution Scotland's food and drink industry makes to the economy has shrunk slightly, a report has revealed.

But the value of food and drink exports from Scotland to overseas has increased by more than half.

A Scottish Government report looking at the success of its food and drink policy revealed that the sector's Gross Value Added (GVA) - which measures the contribution it makes to the economy - had fallen.

The intention of the food and drink policy is to increase this, but the industry's GVA went from £4.7 billion in 2008 to £4.6 billion in 2010.

The contribution to the economy from the agriculture, food manufacturing and drinks manufacturing sectors all fell, although the GVA of the fishing and fish-farming sector increased over the period.

Meanwhile, the value of food and drink exports to overseas countries increased by 52% between 2007 and 2011, going from £3.5 billion to £5.4 billion.

Within this, food exports increased by 63%, going from £712 million to £1.16 billion, while drinks exports went from £2.8 billion in 2007 to £4.2 billion in 2011 - a rise of 50%.

Retail sales of Scottish brands in Britain also rose in value by £396 million between 2007 and 2012.

These went from £1.4 billion to £1.8 billion over the period, an increase of 28%.

But the total for last year is down slightly from both 2010 and 2011, when sales of Scottish branded products were valued at £1.825 billion and £1.808 billion respectively.