Vox Pop: International Trade Fair

Over 60,000 buyers from the UK and overseas headed for the SECC in Glasgow last month to get a look at the hottest products coming out of Scotland.

This year, Scotland's International Trade Fair also saw the launch of a brand new Food Fair as well as hosting over 750 exhibiting companies from Scotland and the UK. Scotland Is The Place went along to sample what was on offer...

Maureen Ferguson, Golden Casket

"We sell confectionary across the world. They love our "Millions" in China – they're the tiny, tasty, chewy sweetie! We've had lots of interest this week from overseas – Germany, Canada, America, Ireland – all over. We're based in Greenock and we've been making confectionary for 154 years."

• www.goldencasket.co.uk

Gregg Kirsten, Blackwood Distillers

"I'm from South Africa. I work for Blackwood Distillers in Lerwick in Shetland. We export our drinks to 16 different countries including Singapore, Thailand, South Africa. The Scottish thing sort of brings them in because it's strange, you know – what is gin and vodka doing coming from Scotland? – but ultimately people go for the product because it's good."

• www.blackwooddistillers.com

Gillian Taylor, Mental Stuff

"We're launching a new range of t-shirts all dyed in things that are inherently Scottish. So, whisky, beer, Scots porridge oats, pine needles, heather and Scottish dark beer. All our t-shirts are packaged in a way which reflects the content, in beer bottles and whisky bottles and things like that."

• www.mentalstuff.com

Ernest Smart, Wild Boar from Scotland Ltd

"We're based in Kiltarlity in Inverness-shire. We have 150 breeding sows. We make anything that comes from a wild boar, really, so for butchers we sell whole carcases and sides, and at the other end of the scale, we go right down to small packs of bacon and sausages for retail outlets. Quite a lot goes down south to restaurants and outlets in London and the South East."

• www.scottishwildboar.co.uk

John Martindale, Tyrrell's Potato Chips

"We're based in Leominster in Herefordshire. The reception amongst Scottish buyers has been really good. We've had a good two days so far. We've also had people from delis and food shops in New York and Canada. We need to go over there and see what the potential is, I think."

Alexis Odie, Shetland Soap Company

"The Shetland Soap Company is a young, up-and-coming company. It employs adults with disabilities as a high percentage of staff. Shetland is really rustic. The people are down to earth, very creative. We're a dot in the middle of the ocean but it's also very cosmopolitan. It surprises you. There are a lot of exciting wee businesses rising up in Shetland."

• www.shetlandsoap.co.uk
• www.cope.ltd.uk

Darrel Wilson, HS Walsh & Sons Ltd

"We've got a lot of customers based up in Scotland, so we like to make an effort to come up. It's good coming up to Scotland. It always works out that it's Burns Night when we're up here. We'll be celebrating, more than likely, with a couple of whiskeys!"

• www.hswalsh.com

Christine Gray Flynn, Tartan Mandala Greetings and Gifts

"I'm based in Ayrshire, Scotland. I'm originally from Glasgow but I've been back and forth between Scotland and Canada all my life. Tartan Mandala Greetings is about taking the tartan thread counts and rendering a design that is circular and polar. I've really been overwhelmed by the positive response I'm getting."

• www.tartanmandala.com

Many thanks to the organisers of Scotland's International Trade Fair for their hospitality. Find out more about the fair from www.madeinscotland.uk.com