Distinctive growth in the premium and super-premium ranges of South African wines was the highlight of Industry body Wines of South Africa’s Export Report which was published last week. While it has been revealed that the overall value of SA’s exports declined 7% to R8.5bn, and the total volume of exports fell 24% to 320-million litres, WoSA remains upbeat about the wine industry’s prospects in 2020, with export wines attaining better prices in most categories. This has indicated that premiumisation might be the way forward for the SA wine industry.
, tying into the Wines of South Africa strategy to work towards premiumisation of wine. Packaged wine exports declined by a mere 4% in value compared to the 14% decline in volume to 145 million litres.
Wines of South Africa (WoSA) CEO, Siobhan Thompson stated: “While 2019 proved to be one of the most challenging years for the industry, we are heartened by the fact that our wines are fetching better prices on most levels. The drought, in combination with an international oversupply resulted in a perfect storm, which caused South Africa to lose listings at the lower price levels.
“The good news is that we saw momentum in higher price levels where our wines garnered good recognition, leading to positive listings. While it might be to early to say, we consider the movement towards higher value wines as a positive as it forms part of a greater trend which the industry is working towards for 2025”.
Following on from a disappointing 2018 season, exports of South African wine have continued to struggle in terms of volume, which can be directly connected to the overall downturn in production brought on by the recent drought. With good rainfall in 2019, the harvest is underway in many of SA’s growing regions, and initial feedback from farmers is positive, regarding both quality and volume.