TAIWANESE retail giant Hsin Tung Yang is in Scotland scouting for whisky, ahead of hoped-for tax changes in its home country which should make it cheaper there.
Hsin Tung Yang, Asia's third-largest operator of convenience stores and gift shops, yesterday sampled whisky at Inver House Distillers in Airdrie.
On Tuesday it visited East Kilbride-based Burn Stewart, which sells Scottish Leader in Taiwan, as part of a tour of nine distilleries.
Hsin Tung Yang's visit has been organised by Government export agency Scottish Trade International and Scottish Enterprise, which said the Taiwanese company looked set to purchase millions of pounds worth of whisky.
A monopoly tax in Taiwan means Scotch is taxed twice as heavily as competing brands from other countries, and there are hopes that a single rate will be introduced for all spirits.
Whisky consumption surged in Japan after it was forced by the World Trade Organisation into a 44% reduction in tax on Scotch.
But the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) yesterday shied clear of estimating the extent to which exports to Taiwan might rise, before seeing what tax changes were made and when. Scotch exports to Taiwan totalled #65m last year.
It believes definitions must also be tightened up in Taiwan, with SWA spokesman Campbell Evans claiming some ''Scotch whisky'' did not qualify on either count.
He said: ''There don't seem to be any real movements on tax reform, other than (the Taiwanese government saying) there will be tax reforms by the beginning of next year.''
Pointing out Taiwanese firms had been able to expand into Scotland, Evans added: ''We would expect them to help us expand properly in Taiwan . . . International trade cuts both ways.''
Welcoming the visit, he said: ''We are obviously keen to see any opportunity to expand our sales into Taiwan, because that is one market in Asia that has not been affected by the economic depression.''
Hsin Tung Yang is also visiting Scottish food companies, including Baxters and Thomas Tunnock.
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