Business insights and economics

The Scottish food and drink industry is known across the world for our high quality food and drink.

The Scottish food and drink manufacturing industry is Scotland’s largest manufacturing sector, contributing £11 billion to the economy annually and employing 47,000 people in communities across the country.

We publish reports across a wide range of policy areas highlighting the food and drink sector's achievements and shining a spotlight on its performance.

Report: Eating into household budgets: the Government’s recipe for food price inflation

20 July 2021

This report looks at the impact UK Government policies will have on food prices for both our food and drink manufacturing businesses and our household shopping baskets across the UK.

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Updates & milestones

Food And Drink Industry Report 2021

Update

The FDF and Santander have now published the Food and Drink Industry Report 2021. The report looks at exports performance in 2020 and highlights the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the end of the EU Exit transition period on food and drink manufacturing. The report includes a focus on exports to four growth markets: the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and Santander’s export team provides insights for all four markets.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on businesses operating across the food and drink sector and exports fell by 9.7% compared to the previous year. The reduction in exports was reflected among all the UK nations and regions, whose performance and contribution is carefully analysed in the report, alongside insights provided by FDF Scotland and FDF Cymru.

Food and Drink Interim Industry Report 2020

Update

FDF and Santander have published the new Food and Drink Interim Industry Report 2020, highlighting the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sector. Following the closure of the hospitality sector in Q2, manufacturers faced reduced demand leading to weak business confidence. The pandemic also impacted foreign markets and exports performance, with exports falling by 14.6% from January to May on the previous year, and all the top 10 products exports declining.

Despite the uncertain environment, the report highlights future export market opportunities for manufacturers, including the UAE and wider Gulf region, China, the US and Canada. The UAE and wider Gulf region have been experiencing considerable growth in the past years, the other markets are already established key markets for UK food and drink exports.

Food and Drink Industry Report 2020

Update

The Food and Drink Industry Report 2020 looks in particular at exports and the developing markets of China, India Japan, UAE and USA, all of which have seen considerable year-on-year growth. Santander's export team provides analysis of the potential and challenges around each territory together with essential information for any company considering trading with these harder to reach markets.

The report highlights other important issues for the industry including increasing automation, sustainable packaging and diet and health are also highlighted in the report as areas where industry is committed to making a difference.