Minister says Scotland needs to do more to build on trade potential

More needs to be done by Scottish companies if they are to build on the 'immense' potential of recent trade deals, the enterprise minister claimed today.

Jim Mather said more encouragement should be given to harness export markets, especially in India and China and promote Scotland as an attractive destination.

He said: "There's a need to encourage more Scottish companies to begin to export, especially as all the evidence suggests that many companies overestimate the risks and costs of international trade, grossly underestimate the benefits, and therefore fail to exploit the opportunities that are there for the taking."

A number of deals have been reached with China recently, including an agreement bringing Scottish salmon to the country for the first time.

"The key point here is the scale of the opportunity is absolutely immense", Mr Mather added.

"I had a cathartic moment when we had the Indian chamber of commerce and the Indian economics minister over here.

"Just this realisation that we are this 5.1 million jurisdiction talking to a 1.2 billion population. Even just talking to the 300 million affluent people, or the many millions of key business leaders they've got there. And likewise in China, the opportunity is immense."

His comments were prompted by an inquiry from Holyrood's Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee on exports and international trade.

Iain Smith, the Liberal Democrat MSP who convenes the committee,claimed too few companies are engaged in exporting.

He said: "Not enough Scottish companies are actually involved in exporting.

"One of our key aims of our inquiry report is to try to find ways to encourage more.

"The stark facts are that Scotland has 8% of VAT-registered companies across the United Kingdom but we have only 5% of the companies across the United Kingdom who are involved in exporting, and frankly that isn't enough."