A Scotch whisky firm has set its
sights on Mongolia as it bids to make further inroads into new and emerging
markets.

BenRiach Distillery Company managing
director Bill Walker is to hold tastings in the central Asian country as part
of a trade mission next week.

Mr Walker said there were
opportunities worldwide for the Scotch whisky industry, which had entered
“a golden age”.

He added that “east of Beirut,
the world is booming”.

Mr Walker said: “Emerging
markets like China and India haven”t got anywhere near where they will be yet.

“Mongolia, where I”ll be next
week, is absolutely in its infancy but there will be opportunities, as there
are with places like Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

“Add onto that Russia where the
rouble has recovered and which is having a boom time just now. South America is
clearly enjoying significant economic advantages as well.

“Mexico has become a big big
market for Scotch, and you”ve got untapped Africa waiting in the wings.”

“Golden
period”

Mr Walker said he believed Scotch whisky”s “golden period” would
endure for some time to come.

He added: “We don”t have the same industry shape that we had in the
past; we”ve had so much consolidation and as a result it appears to me there
are no weak players in the industry.

“In my opinion, that forms the fundamentals of a solid future.”

Edinburgh-based BenRiach already supplies a range of 12 to 15-year-old
single malt whiskies, along with more mature and premium varieties, to markets
including western Europe, Asia, North America and, increasingly, Brazil and
other Latin American economies.

In 2008, it acquired the Glendronach distillery in Aberdeenshire before
launching a five-line bottling plant in Newbridge in 2010.

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