In numbers; Scotland’s whisky industry

Scotch Whisky producers plan 40 new distilleries in bid to dominate world spirits market.

Jim McGregor and Rosebank Whisky Collection; 03/11/2015; Denny; 3 Bridge Crescent, FK6 6PB; Falkirk District; Scotland; Pic by Alan Murray www.alanmurrayphotography.co.uk Tel: [phone]

Scotch Whisky continues to expand at a massive pace – despite figures out this week highlighting a slight slowdown in exports – with 30 to 40 new distilleries being planned or built across the country.
Industry leaders believe this shows a real commitment by operators to make the brand the number one spirit enjoyed throughout the world.

Rosemary Gallagher, Scotch Whisky Association head of communications, said: “Scotch Whisky is vital to the country’s economic growth.

“The industry employs more than 10,000 people in Scotland and adds almost £5 billion in value to the economy.

Bowmore Distillery on Islay

“Scotch Whisky is enjoyed by people in around 200 markets around the world and the industry is expanding to meet this demand. “

She added: “There are more than 100 Scotch Whisky distilleries and that number is growing. Between 30 to 40 new distilleries are currently being planned or built across the country, many in areas not traditionally associated with Scotch Whisky production.”

In terms of the value it adds to the UK economy, Scotch Whisky is bigger than a number of industries, such as iron and steel, textiles, shipbuilding and computing.

It is also larger than other UK food and drink sectors, including meat, dairy, beer and soft drinks.

In Scotland, it makes up almost three quarters of the food and drink sector and is three times the size of Scotland’s digital or life sciences industries.

Some key facts about the industry include:

There are 115 distilleries licensed to produce Scotch Whisky.

There are currently 20million casks of whisky maturing in warehouses in Scotland. To be Scotch Whisky they must mature in oak casks in Scotland for at least three years.

In 2014, the overall economic contribution of Scotch Whisky industry to UK is £4.956bn.

Each year, producers spend £1.8bn on suppliers - 90 per cent of that expenditure is in the UK, including £1.4bn in Scotland.

Dry goods, including bottles and packaging, cereals, energy and transport and distribution make up the majority of purchases.

Capital expenditure makes up £142m – up 31 per cent since 2008 – of the total industry spend. Some 70 per cent of that is outside Scotland in other parts of the UK and overseas.

The specialist nature of capital equipment, such as machinery, vehicles and software, means it often has to be sourced from further afield, spreading the impact of the Scotch Whisky industry across a wide geographical area.

The industry supports 40,300 jobs in the UK - up from around 35,000 in 2008 - in a range of sectors including glass manufacturing and labelling. This total includes 10,900 people directly employed by the industry in Scotland, up 6% in 2014.

Every job in Scotch Whisky supports a further 2.7 British jobs.

So far in 2015, exports in the first six months totalled £1.7million, which shows evidence that the recent decline is slowing.

Exports earn £135 a second.

This figures show a 3 per cent decline in the value of Scotch Whisky exports in first six months, which is smaller than the fall of 11 per cent between the first half of 2013 and 2014.

Premium blends and Single Malt ScotchWhisky continue to become ever more popular. Single Malt exports were up 5 per cent to £406m in the first half of this year.