Mackie's of Scotland hiked exports of its ice cream by 37% to a record £2.8 million in the year to May, with Taiwan its biggest overseas market.

The company, based on the Mackie family’s Aberdeenshire farm, said it had enjoyed its “strongest showing” in east Asia, with Taiwan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan accounting for 95% of its total export sales.

Mackie’s said: “Taiwan sits atop the rest, taking the title as Mackie’s largest overseas customer. Last year, consumers in Taiwan alone purchased over one million of Mackie’s Traditional tubs, which if laid in a straight line would stretch from [the] Aberdeenshire farm to Edinburgh.”

The fifth-generation family farm, Westertown, is near Inverurie.

Mackie’s exports to 13 countries, with its other overseas markets including the US and the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain and Dubai.

The company, which employs 110 people, noted its Traditional ice cream tub is its biggest seller abroad. The is followed by its Honeycomb ice cream.

Stuart Common, managing director of Mackie’s of Scotland, said: “Since we first started exporting to a handful of family-run ice cream parlours in Seoul in 2002 for the FIFA World Cup hosted in South Korea, we have seen steady growth in overseas demand for our products.

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“The quality and consistency of Scottish food and drink products generally has helped create a ‘made in Scotland’ brand in and of itself, which has found strong support from consumers across the world.”

He noted a fillip for export sales as countries emerged from the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Common said: “This most recent burst in export sales comes as countries and international supply chains begin to recover from the pandemic, and consumers are eager to taste and try foods they have not necessarily had access to for some time.

“To bolster this, Mackie’s have widened the scope of products which we offer to our overseas customers – providing them with new flavours like our Honeycomb, which they might not have in their national markets.”

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He added: “This has resulted in a terrific uplift in sales worldwide and our partnerships with our international distributors has never been stronger. We’re optimistic that this trend will continue over the years to come, as Mackie’s and Scottish food and drink both further cement their place in international consumers’ minds as simple, consistent and of the highest quality.”

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Mr Common said the company’s ambition is “always to grow, while still delivering quality to our consumers.”

He revealed that Mackie’s was working on creating new relationships with distributors “to reach more customers around the world”.

Mr Common added: “We have set ourselves challenging targets for the upcoming year to maintain this upward trajectory and are looking forward to sharing Mackie’s with more ice cream lovers around the world.”

Mackie’s flagged a “flurry of new listings” within the UK, including a deal to supply Honeycomb ice cream to 245 Waitrose stores which is anticipated to be worth around £500,000 in retail sales.

The family business noted it had secured a renewal of its UK-wide Sainsbury’s listing, with its Honeycomb ice cream being sold in more than 500 stores around England and Wales.

The company added: “This, combined with [our] decision to resist price increases, has led to Mackie’s adding half-a-million customers across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland to [the] significant existing share in Scotland.”

Mackie’s noted it had more than 20% of the ice cream market in Scotland.