Economic crisis hits SA wine sales

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - May 19 2009 12:29

South African wine sales are being hit by the global economic crisis, South Africa's Wine of the Month Club said on Tuesday.

"It's not true that people are driven to the bottle in difficult times. They drink less, or buy cheaper," the club's chairperson, Colin Collard, said in a statement.

A number of local producers' export orders had been cancelled, not because of low quality or bad service, but because of difficult trading conditions in the country's main export markets, he said.

"With some well-known restaurants going out of business, local on-consumption sales are down.

"In the case of off-consumption sales, consumers are buying cheaper brands.

"Expensive and upmarket wines that were difficult to get hold of, or that were available only on allocation, are now more readily available."

Collard was, however, optimistic that sales would pick up soon, explaining that people were not buying at the moment "simply because they think they should be cutting back".

"It's an overreaction," he said.

"Even though things are tough at the moment, the local industry has never looked better.

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"The 2009 wine harvest has been very good and our winemakers are making wines that are better than they have ever been. Overall, South Africa continues to offer wines that are among the best value for money you can find anywhere in the world."

According to Collard, wine sales in pubs and clubs in Britain have shrunk 1% -- or 12 million bottles -- in the past year. -- Sapa

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