Trend of falling Scotch sales a hangover of exorbitant tax
Edinburgh — Makers of Scotch whisky are worried about trends showing falling sales volumes of Britain’s biggest food and drink export, although sales were still higher in terms of value in pounds, they said on Monday. Sales of Scotch overseas fell 2% to 528-million bottles in the first half of 2017, although the value rose 3.4% to £1.8-billion, helped by a shift in tastes to more expensive single malts as well as a weak pound, the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) industry lobby said. Sales of whisky are being helped abroad by a decline in the value of the pound since Britain voted to leave the EU in 2016. Scotch accounts for nearly a fifth of the UK’s total food and drink exports, by far the leading product in the sector. Karen Betts, the head of the SWA, said the figures were positive but showed "concerning underlying trends," arguing that the government could support the industry in its home market at a key moment by cutting taxes on UK whisky. Sales to France, for example, the wor...
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