Showcasing the best of Welsh
Q&A with Lesley Griffiths, Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
The Welsh food and drink industry is continuing to make its mark and is open for business globally. BlasCymru/TasteWales 2021, supported by Welsh Government, is the landmark event of 2021 to showcase quality Welsh produce on the global stage. taste.blas catches up with Lesley Griffiths, Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd to hear more and her views on the current and future vision for Welsh food and drink. taste.blas: Can you explain to our readers what BlasCymru/TasteWales is and why it is so important to the economy of Wales? Lesley Griffiths: BlasCymru/TasteWales 2021 brings national and international buyers and Welsh food and drink producers together with the aim of opening up new markets and international trade deals for the fantastic food and drink companies that we have in Wales. As we can see from the success of previous events, there is certainly an appetite for our produce not only in other parts of the UK, but also across the globe. Therefore the event helps further establish our food and drink industry globally and promotes Wales as a leading location for quality food and drink production. This year’s event will see over a hundred companies take part, who between them will be launching over 200 new products which cover a diverse range
of sectors, including speciality items for niche markets through to high volume items for major distribution networks. As always, there will be a strong international flavour and while the European markets remain very important to us, we are also increasingly looking to engage with countries a little further afield, which is crucial to the continued growth of the industry into the future. tb: How much has the food and drink sector in Wales grown over the last few years and what are expectations for the future? LG: In 2014 we announced a simple, yet bold, target of raising the industry’s sales value by 30% to £7 billion by 2020. I am delighted we have now more than achieved this and the latest data shows the industry is currently worth £7.473 billion. Having built up a strong global reputation for quality and provenance over the past decade, Welsh food and
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