Oral evidence: Export led growth, HC 649

Oral evidence, 25 March 2025.

Witnesses

Helen Brocklebank, Mr Jonathan Brenton and Alex Gover.

Chair

Welcome to the third panel in today’s session of the Business and Trade Select Committee. Thank you very much indeed to our witnesses for your patience today. I will start with a very quick question and we will proceed until the Divisions are called. Jonathan, could you give us a very quick flavour of how export growth is faring in your sector in Asia-Pacific?

Mr Brenton

Looking at the top 10 markets for Scotch globally, five of them are in Asia-Pacific and four of the top five growing markets since 2019 have been in Asia.

Chair

Do you expect that to continue?

Mr Brenton

We expect that trend to continue. There will be ups and downs but there is strong underlying growth and what drives that is not just the numbers. It is the quality of demand. You have a massive emerging middle class that are hungry for quality goods and services, which the UK can provide.

Chair

Helen, what is your perspective?

Helen Brocklebank

Asia is the third most important market for the British luxury sector. Overall it is 22% of all exports. I echo what Jonathan said about the appetite for British-made, the kinds of craft that are made by the nearly half a million people who are employed in the UK nationwide in the sector. There are four things to note on the key markets. China is half of that 22% with 11% of exports. It is a consistent and significant market for the UK. That percentage of exports has not grown over the last 10 years but it has grown in value. It is strong and the opportunity is still there, not least because the affluent population is growing and will continue to grow quite fast. They are quite young and there is a long-term opportunity there as the customer matures in their relationship. Japan and South Korea are about 5%, a very stable, very good consistent market. High quality goods are well established there. Whiskies and cosmetics do particularly well. It is also important because it is interconnected. There is a big market of high value tourism from China particularly into those markets and they buy British luxury goods when they are there. Wine is an opportunity. They have more sommeliers in Japan than they have in France, so we think that the English sparkling wine market could do quite well. Other Asia is fragmented but encouraging. It is about 6% of the total market.

Chair

I will pause you there.

Helen Brocklebank

Sorry, is that the bell?

Chair

That is the bell. Alex, if you would not mind just giving us literally 30 seconds to a minute on your perspective on the fundamentals, that would be terrific.

Alex Gover

Thank you very much. My company Intralink helps British tech companies sell, license and export into Asia. The growth has been phenomenal. Asia is home to more than half the world’s population. Particularly east Asia—Korea, Japan—is home to hundreds of multinational companies across pharmaceuticals, automotive, industrial, electronics and so on. The ability to sell into those kinds of companies is effectively the ability to sell into the world because they are selling products around the world. We have seen a massive rise in demand and success for British companies selling tech into that part of the world.

Chair

I am so sorry that our time together has been short and cut-off. There are now six votes, which will take us an hour and 20 minutes to conclude, so I am afraid at this stage I will have to adjourn the Committee. There is a vote in the House. The Committee stands suspended until 3.45pm tomorrow afternoon.