OVER 100 of the world’s most influential food and drink buyers have touched down in Edinburgh to meet with 150 Scottish food and drink businesses in the £15bn sector’s largest 1:1 sales meeting event.
Showcasing Scotland 2024 brings together buyers from the rest of the UK and 22 countries, including; China, United Arab Emirates, USA, South Korea, France, and Japan, for a series of speed-dating-style meetings and sector-focused tours. Showcasing Scotland is organised by Scotland Food & Drink on behalf of the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership with funding support from The Scottish Government.
The last time the event was held in 2019, Showcasing Scotland saw an excess of 2,000 business meetings take place, generating millions in new deals for the industry. There is optimism among attendees that deal value can be exceeded in 2024, providing a welcome boost to Scotland’s exports.
Showcasing Scotland forms an integral part of the market growth strand of the overarching national industry strategy, ‘Sustaining Scotland. Supplying the World.’, which is delivered by the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership and aims to realise a £4bn growth opportunity for the industry.
Iain Baxter, Chief Executive at Scotland Food & Drink, said: “The sheer number of buyers attending Showcasing Scotland from every corner of the globe demonstrates the power and reputation of Scotland’s food and drink industry.
“New commercial relationships and routes to markets in the rest of the UK and abroad will be opened up for many Scottish food and drink producers over the coming days. That’s an exciting prospect and we’re proud to have supported the attendee suppliers to get ready for scaling their operations and serving overseas markets through our extensive Supplier Support Programme, powered by The Academy in the run-up to this week.
“I’m looking forward to welcoming our overseas guests and to seeing the results of one of our flagship events.”
Ahead of the 1-1 business meetings, international and UK buyers will attend immersive sector tours to gain first-hand experience of the production process, heritage and innovation across all sectors of the industry.
Scottish Enterprise is a key partner in delivering Showcasing Scotland, with its international division, Scottish Development International, attracting overseas buyers to the event.
Reuben Aitken, Managing Director of International Operations at Scottish Enterprise, said: “I could not be more proud of the quality and provenance of the produce we have to showcase to the world. Over the next few days, we will help our exceptional food and drink businesses convert our world-renowned status into sales. It’s testament to the strong relationships that our overseas colleagues cultivate that we have secured attendance from around 100 overseas buyers for this event.”
