Less whine - more wine
7 April 2004
Despite dire predictions about wine exports because of the "strong" rand, South African wine producers almost doubled the number of cases they sold in the £5 (R59) price category in the UK last year, according to Wines of SA (Wosa).
Richard Halstead, managing director of UK-based Wine Intelligence, said that South African wine producers sold 7.6 million nine-litre cases of wine in all price categories in 2003, an increase of 227% over 2002. South Africa had a 10% market share.
WOSA member Mike Paul said that, with a budget of £10-million over 10 years, the challenge for South African wine exports would now be to drive the sale of wine costing more than £5 - not only to make profits, but to change the perception of South Africa wines as being good value only to being even better appreciated.
Paul said the objectives were to obtain a 13.5% share by value and to export 500 000 cases a year to the UK at more than £5 a bottle.
The kind of
challenges that South African wine producers face in the UK are slow growth in overall value and a surplus of wines from California and Australia. Also, there is a consolidation of the supplier base throughout the retail trade pressure on retailers' and suppliers' margins.
However, the opportunities are that South Africa has had less than 10% of a 120 million case market, and that there were sales of 7.5 million in the over-£5 price category in the retail trade alone last year. That market also grew by 17%.
According to Paul, South African wine producers should try to gain an understanding of the country's competitive position in terms of the costs of its goods and the opportunity for premium wines in the retail and restaurant trade in the UK.
Source: Proudly South African
| 
