With Scotch whisky emerging as a fashionable drink in markets like China and Brazil, multinational liquor companies such as Pernod Ricard SA and Diageo PLC are investing in production facilities in Scotland at a level not seen since the 1970s.

Last Friday, a kilted Prince Charles presided over the opening of Pernod Ricard's newly expanded Glenlivet single-malt whisky distillery in Scotland, which has increased its production capacity by 75% thanks to a GBP 10 million ($14.6 million) investment.

This autumn, Diageo plans to open its 28th whisky distillery in Scotland -- the country's first new, large-scale whisky distillery in three decades, according to the company.

Known as Roseisle, the facility cost Diageo GBP 40 million and will distill up to 10 million liters of single-malt whisky a year. The liquor will be used to produce blended whiskies such as Johnnie Walker and J&B.

In the past three years, liquor companies have spent about GBP 600 million to expand whisky production facilities in Scotland.

The investments are being driven by rising Scotch whisky exports to the U.S., its biggest export market by value, as well as by increasing demand in the developing world.

Despite the recession, Scotch whisky exports from Scotland rose to record levels in 2009, according to the Scotch Whisky Association.

Exports rose by 3% to GBP 3.13 billion on the back of a 13% jump in the value of exports to France and the U.S., a 44% rise in the value of exports to Brazil, an increase of 25% in the Scotch whisky shipped to Mexico and a 7% rise in the value of exports to South Africa. The volume of exported Scotch whisky increased 4% in 2009.

In the last 10 years the value of Scotch whisky shipments going to China has grown to about GBP 80 million from around GBP 1 million, though much of the product is shipped through other Asian hubs, according to the association. A reduction in tariffs on alcohol helped.