Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Concerns from Moray firm that loss of EU free trade deals could hit Asian expansion plans

SNP's Cabinet Secretary for Government Business and Constitutional Relations, Michael Russell is pictured visiting Maclean’s Highland Bakery in Forres, Moray earlier today.

L2R - MSP Richard Lochhead ,Managing Director Lewis Maclean  and SNP's Cabinet Secretary for Government Business and Constitutional Relations, Michael Russell

Picture: Jason Hedges
SNP's Cabinet Secretary for Government Business and Constitutional Relations, Michael Russell is pictured visiting Maclean’s Highland Bakery in Forres, Moray earlier today. L2R - MSP Richard Lochhead ,Managing Director Lewis Maclean and SNP's Cabinet Secretary for Government Business and Constitutional Relations, Michael Russell Picture: Jason Hedges

A Moray business fears that falling out of the EU without free trade deals in place could hit its expansion plans.

Forres-based Maclean’s Highland Bakery has been expanding into the Japanese market in recent years to sell its own shortbread, biscuits and oatcakes to Far East consumers.

The firm currently relies on a free trade deal between the Asian country and the EU – allowing cheap access to importers.

However, now managing director Lewis Maclean fears potential extra costs to continue the supply chain following Brexit could make trading in the country unaffordable, which could force further expansion plans to be curbed.

He said: “With Brexit looming over us we may have only a matter of weeks to enjoy the benefits of this EU free trade agreement.”

Exports totalling £3.7billion, about 12% of Scotland’s total, are currently sent to nations who have a free trade deal with the UK.

Yesterday, the Scottish Government’s Brexit secretary, Michael Russell, toured Maclean’s Highland Bakery to learn about the effect the EU split could have on the firm.

And the minister believes continued uncertainty could result in some firms going under.

He said: “Scottish food and drink is iconic. It’s become that because it can go into the European market with minimum of fuss.

“A week on Friday that could all come to an end. Some companies could have difficulties with that. I have no doubt the bakery will adapt but others will simply not survive if they can’t sell their product.”

Moray MSP Richard Lochhead added: “Brexit will have a big impact on Moray’s businesses and our local economy, particularly given that many of our key industries, such as our food and drink producers, are export-based businesses and many rely on EU nationals for their workforce.

“Any form of Brexit leaves Moray in a worse position than we’re in now, but it is absolutely clear that a no-deal Brexit would be devastating for the region and for our local economy.”