Economic Success

•  Scotland is the second largest salmon producer in the world

•  The ex-farm value of Scottish farmed salmon is approaching £400 million

•  The worldwide retail value of Scottish farmed salmon is over £1 billion

•  1 million fresh salmon meals are eaten in the UK every day

•  1 million smoked salmon meals are eaten in the UK every week

•  Salmon represents approximately 40% of all Scottish food exports

•  59 countries imported Scottish farmed salmon in 2008

•  Nearly half a billion Scottish farmed salmon meals were enjoyed worldwide in 2008

•  Scotland’s salmon farmers injected £500million into the economy in 2008. The Highlands and Islands continue to be the most significant beneficiary.

•  Expenditure on suppliers and services topped £304m in 2008. £223m of this total was spent in Scotland (inclusive of £143m in the Highlands and Islands)

•  Primary salmon production led to local wages payments of £36m in 2008. When applying standard economic multipliers, the local wages payments translate to an injection of £165m into local, rural economies as money earned locally is spent locally. The largest share of this distributed income is in Highland (£58m), Shetland (£37m), Argyll & Bute (£32m), Western Isles (£15m) and Orkney (£4.5m)

•  SSPO members have invested over £84m in capital projects over the last three years. The vast majority of this (96%) has been in the Highlands and Islands. Capital investment has risen year-on year from £19.5m in 2006 to £35m in 2008

•  SSPO member companies employed a total of 1,579 people in 2008. Scottish Government estimates that there are a further 4,700 downstream jobs

•  70% of all the salmon employees live within 10 miles of their place of work, 88% live within 20 miles

•  The average number of years that employees stay with companies is 8 years. This compares favourably with the UK average of 5.6 years. In one remote, rural location the average length of employment was 23 years

•  Exports in the industry have increased by over 500% in the last twenty years

•  Consumer consumption in the UK has more than trebled in the last ten years

•  Salmon is in growth across all meal occasions

• 30% of all retail sales of fresh fish are sales of salmon

•  Scottish farmed salmon has held the French Government’s top quality award, Label Rouge for the past 15 years. It was the first non-French food to receive this accolade

•  Scottish farmed salmon has been awarded Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status by the European Commission, setting it alongside Arbroath Smokies, Cornish Clotted Cream, Parma Ham, Scotch beef and lamb, Orkney beef and lamb, Jersey Royal potatoes and Champagne

•  The global market for salmon grew at a rate in excess of 10% per year on average between 1995 and 2005

•  In 1980 only 9% of the fish consumed by people came from aquaculture, now it is more than 50%

•  The UN FAO reports that aquaculture is the only way to meet the surging demand for seafood

•  The Scottish aquaculture industry was valued in excess of £400million in 2006, which makes it second only to beef at £467m, and ahead of fish catches at £370m, the sheep sector at £151m and the pig industry at £57m