DEFRA delegates meet with SSA on insight seafood processors tour

Defra officials from the trade import/export team toured Peterhead market and visited local processing business in the North-east last week.

The DEFRA team at Peterhead

Jimmy Buchan, CEO of the Scottish Seafood Association, said having these industry insight sector

tours helps those we depend on to negotiate and create new business opportunities to the sector to see first-hand the challenges and the scale of the industry here in Scotland.

Seafood export plays a significant part in the northeast economy, and it is vital that we retain grow and explore new markets as we build back from the aftershocks of Brexit and Covid.

Daisy May, heading up the delegation said: “It was great to visit our stakeholders in Aberdeenshire, who represent an important and key part of the UK's seafood sector.

"We appreciate the efforts of those involved in showing us around and talking us through the key issues they face and will ensure that these valuable learnings are fed into our work to promote our seafood industry at home and abroad."

Commenting on the visit, Jimmy said: “We were delighted to host this visit and to strengthen our relationship with stakeholders both at Westminster and through our shared and important relationships with Scottish Government departments.

"These trips help forge better understandings of each other’s challenges and how working together should build new and better relations across all departments. “