Scottish businesses, including textile firms, are set to benefit from the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed last week. The deal will benefit over 500 businesses in Scotland that exported £503.4 million in goods to Japan last year and help even more local businesses sell their goods and services to the Japanese market.
The deal could increase UK trade with Japan by £15.7 billion, giving a £1.5 billion boost to the economy and increasing UK workers’ wages by £800 million in the long run.
Iconic Scottish products, including Scotch beef, native Shetland wool, and Stornaway black pudding are to be protected in Japan for the first time under a new agreement on geographical indicators (GIs), according to a UK government press release.
Johnstons of Elgin, one of Scotland’s most renowned textile firms, has also found big success in Japan as quality Scottish textiles prove popular with consumers there. The Moray-based company, founded in 1797, manufactures and sells cashmere and fine woollen products.
The luxury textile manufacturer employs about 1,000 people across its Elgin mill and large manufacturing base in the Scottish Borders.
Source texpro.fibre2fashion.com
