Trade in Scotch whisky – the UK’s biggest food and drink export – grew by 3.1% during the first half of the year, helped by booming demand in India where exports have risen by a record 41%, new figures show.
Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom announced the figures during a visit to a whisky bottling plant in Livingston, as part of the her first visit to Scotland since she took up the role under Prime Minister Theresa May
There were 533million bottles of Scotch exported in the first half of the year, up from 517million in the first half of 2015.
The UK government recently highlighted India as an export market in its UK Food and Drink International Action Plan, which sets out an aspiration to gain £349million in food and drink export wins there over the next five years.