Soaring sales in the Far East and emerging markets worldwide have led to an unprecedented boom in the Scotch whisky industry, official figures are expected to show.

Claims of a new “golden era” for Scotch will gather pace when record exports are announced for the first half of this year by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), the industry body. The figures, to be announced over the next few weeks, will show that exports rose by 9 per cent to more than £1 billion for the first six months of 2007.

Total export volumes for Scotch are expected to be up 17 per cent on last year, the equivalent of an extra 71 million bottles, or £92 million in shipment value.

The figures indicate that exports of Scotch, both single malts and blended whisky, are on course for a record year, thanks largely to booming markets in Asia and the Far East.

The most important period for the industry is typically the last two months of the year, when 40 per cent of malts and 30 per cent of blends are sold in the run-up to Christmas.

Confirmation of such a bumper first half will fuel predictions that full-year exports could be well above the £2.5 billion figure – equivalent to one billion bottles - reached in 2006.

A spokesman for the SWA said yesterday: “There is real optimism across the Scotch whisky industry in 2007, as both traditionally important and new emerging markets continue to develop and offer new opportunities.”

The emergence of markets in the Far East, where whisky has become a status drink for many in the middle classes, has been most spectacular in China, where blended whisky is mixed with green tea. Exports have soared from £1 million in 2001 to £58 million last year, taking the Chinese market into Scotch’s top ten by value for the first time.

The lowering of import tariffs in India this year is also expected to boost exports, while the figures will also show growth in Central and South America and North America, Scotch’s largest market worth around £500 million per year.

The numbers are also expected to show a robust performance in Europe, although the popularity of whisky in Britain continues to lag behind the Continent, particularly Spain, France and Central and Eastern Europe.

A spokesman for the Pernod Ricard-owned Chivas Brothers, whose Chivas Regal 12-year-old blend boasts that it is the market leader in China, Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore, said that Asia continued to offer huge opportunities.

Growth in emerging markets has led to massive investment in Scotland, where the Scotch industry employs 40,000 people. In order to meet demand, new malt distilleries are being built in the Scottish mainland for the first time in 30 years.

The first spirit is expected to flow from stills at a new distillery in Girvan, Ayrshire, built by William Grant & Sons, later this year.

Meanwhile Diageo, whose brands include Johnnie Walker, J&B, Bell’s and the single malts Talisker and Cardhu, this month received planning permission to build a new distillery in Speyside, the traditional heartland of whisky production in northeast Scotland. Bryan Donaghey, managing director of Diageo Scotland, said: “This is a significant investment. It underpins our commitment to Scotland and the long-term growth and sustainability of our Scotch whisky business.”

The feelgood factor has spread to suppliers and traditional crafts, including the coppersmiths who make and maintain whisky stills, and the coopers who repair barrels. Farmers have benefited as the price of malting barley has more than doubled to £200 a tonne, the highest in ten years.

China’s choice

Five most popular Scotch whisky brands in China:

1 Chivas Regal (owned by Pernod Ricard of France)

2 Johnnie Walker Black Label (Diageo)

3 Ballantine’s (Pernod Ricard)

4 Johnnie Walker Red Label (Diageo)

5 Old Matisse (Matisse, independent ownership)

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