I want to press you on some of those points, because I think they are important. You are absolutely right about the premium on Mull of Kintyre cheddar. It is £5,000 a tonne for Mull of Kintyre cheddar as opposed to something around £3,000 a tonne, or perhaps even less, for what one might call bog-standard cheddar. However, the figures for the quantities involved are pretty stark. Last year, only 240 tonnes of Mull of Kintyre cheddar was exported, out of a production of the creamery of 3,200 tonnes, so well under 10 per cent goes into that premium product. Another 1,200 tonnes of Mull of Kintyre cheddar may have been produced, but the creamery lost a substantial sum of money.
There appear to be eight areas in which action could be taken, some of which would help the wider First Milk community and some of which would help rural Scotland in particular. I will touch on those areas very briefly, if I may, because they are important.
The first is investment in the creamery. The cabinet secretary indicated that discussions are continuing. I know that First Milk regards it as crucial that those discussions come to a satisfactory conclusion so that it can continue with the investment that it has started on.
Secondly, Frank Strang mentioned the in-market export resource. There is a need for a dedicated in-market export resource for dairy products, particularly in North America, even for a short period of time. Scottish Development International has been very helpful, but there is a need for more.
There is a need for a very big marketing push. I am very pleased to hear about the Scottish brand work. That needs to tie together brands such as Mull of Kintyre and not stand in their place.
Keeping producers in the market is essential, particularly on Bute, as we heard last week, where any producer leaving the market would increase the transport cost for the others. Anything that can be done on transportation and other costs, with urgency, to keep the producers in the market, would help.
On examination, there was a meeting in Mull of Kintyre two weeks ago about possible long-term solutions. I think that First Milk would be open to partnership arrangements. The Orkney solution is interesting in terms of the participation of the local authority or Highlands and Islands Enterprise in upgrading premises and perhaps operating them in a different way.
First Milk carries on legacy pension liabilities from the former Milk Marketing Board. They are not massive, but the company might have the opportunity for a cash injection if they could be taken elsewhere.
There are issues about the size of First Milk and whether it needs to work more constructively with other and larger producers.
Finally, you will be familiar with the substantial investment in research and development in the dairy industry that has been announced in Ireland in the past 10 days. If we look around the Scottish industry, with the exception of the work that the SRUC has done, there does not seem to be any substantial research and development or new product development. We heard this morning from the retail sector that all the innovation in product in the dairy sector is coming from outside the UK.
Those are all possible areas where some action could be taken. Will the cabinet secretary consider those as part of the issues for the dairy plan?