Focus on Scotland: 9 June

Focus on Scotland by Ian Quinn

Download the synopsis here

Publishing: 9 June

Advertising deadline: 29 May

Submissions deadline: 21 May

Scottish food and drink is booming. Exports reached a record £6bn last year, up 11% on the year before. But there is one fly in the ointment. A large part of this exporting success is down to fish and seafood, and Scotland’s flagship product of salmon has come under fire over farming methods. Coupled with the threat of Brexit, can Scotland thrive again for another year?

Key Themes:

Salmon: The fish has become an iconic part of Scotland’s food and drink exports. But with all the furore surrounding farming methods, could this industry take a hit?

Whisky: Scotch is in fine shape so can this continue? Does it have anything to fear from the rise of American whisky?

Funding: The Scottish government is offering local food and drink producers a £250,000 grant. Will this simulate innovation?

Innovation: This will be key to the feature. We will be investigating how new product development has shaped the category over the past year and what is in store for shoppers in 2018. We will be profiling eight of the most interesting launches in a separate innovation panel.

Brexit: Much of Scotland’s exporting is to Europe (£1.1bn last year, to be precise) and the impact of Brexit is unclear. Could this threaten the success of Scottish food and drink?

Scotland food and drink awards: A run-down of the highlights from the awards

Whisky tours: From the Johnnie Walker “immersive experience” to new whisky tours in Edinburgh, whisky is taking aim at the tourist market more than ever. We look at the latest attempts to make this a tourist attraction.

Key questions the feature is likely to address:

 What consumer trends have impacted the category over the past year?

 How have promotional strategies (both in terms of price and marketing) evolved?

 How have individual retailers’ strategies impacted the market?

 How has merchandising changed in the market?

 What impact has own-label had on branded players?

 What’s next for the category?