SEVEN jobs are to be lost at Springbank Distillery, it was announced to staff on Friday.
The distillery has declined to comment to The Courier ever since the news of letters being sent to staff became public nearly a fortnight ago.
Rising costs of fuel for transport production and of barley have been cited elsewhere by the distillery as the reasons to stop production for a period of time.
Springbank’s decision has taken many in the whisky industry by surprise. Campbell Evans of the Scottish Whisky Association thinks the decision seemed ‘at odds with the direction the rest of the industry is going in’ at a time when markets for whisky in India, China and South America were expanding.
Mr Evans does not believe there is a problem for the smaller distilleries and pointed towards Islay’s Kilchoman Farm, which has just doubled its capacity.
‘We are seeing unprecedented investment in the industry; £400 million is scheduled between 2007 and 2010,’ he said.
