Exports up – time for a wine show 11 April 2008

Wosa builds up to Cape Wine 2008

The volume of South African wine exported has for the first time exceeded that sold at home, thanks to sluggish growth (around five per cent) here, and good grwoth in foreign sales. Talking of the latest trade figures, the CEO of Wosa (Wines of South Africa), Su Birch said that export sales in the year to March export sales ‘reached 331,5 million litres, an increase of 23% on the previous 12 months’.  The first quarter of 2008 has volumes up 35 percent compared with the same period in 2007.

This impressive growth does, admittedly, come after a slackening of growth in the previous year, but clearly the absolute figures show a major recovery and are good for the local industry. The 2008 volumes do, however, come at a time when the rand has lost a good deal of value against the currencies of the buying nations, which should encourage opportunistic sales.

Birch does note ‘the pitfalls of building our competitive advantage on the basis of a weak rand and should be focusing our efforts on raising the value of our exports.  There has been a spike in bulk wine sales, which is not sustainable.  While it has helped to take up excess supply, we must protect the equity of our brands and continue to grow packaged exports for the long-term future’. She adds that non-bulk exports ‘are growing at 10% per annum, a manageable rate that allows local producers to meet demand’. It seems that demand for Cape wine is growing in Scandinavia, Germany, North America and Africa – and the UK market has recovered from the previous year’s decline.

As she points out, however, the ‘home market should always serve as the bedrock of a sustainable wine industry’.

Export buoyancy does augur well for Cape Wine 2008, the biennial industry showcase to the international market, which takes place in Cape Town in September – cleverly and snugly tucked in between the Nederburg Auction and the Nedbank Cape Winemakers’ Guild Auction, which will no doubt be a good conjunction for all three events.

Birch says that there will be a record number of exhibitors at Cape Wine this year, and show space will be increased by nearly a quarter to accommodate them. She says that the show and associated events and seminars are already attracting delegates even though booking has been open for just over a week. ‘In addition to buyers from our traditional markets in the UK, Europe and North America, we have received encouraging numbers of registrations from the BRICK (Brazil, Russia, India, China and Korea) countries as well as elsewhere in Latin America and Asia.’

• Link to the Cape Wine 2008 website