South Africa’s exports of wine and alcoholic fruit beverages (including flavoured grape liquor and that for vinegar and industrial purposes) grew 11,2% y/y in volume terms in 2003, according to preliminary statistics from South Africa Wine Information Systems (Sawis), the industry’s official data collection group.
According to Sawis, South African exports rose to 243-million litres in 2003, from 218,6-million litres in 2002. The growth comes in the face of the appreciation of the rand over the year (up 28% against the dollar on an average annual basis), which made South African wines less competitive in foreign markets in terms of price, showing that local wine producers opted to continue to expand export volumes despite falling profit margins.
Sawis figures show that within the total, bottled or packaged wine exports rose 9,4% y/y to 166,1-million litres from 151,8-million litres a year earlier, while bulk wine was 0,7% higher at 66,4-million litres. Bottled or other packaged wines (such as bag-in-a-box) accounted for 71,6% of the total, better than the 69,6% achieved in 2002, as South Africa continued its move away from low-end bulk exports.
Exports of bottled red wines posted the strongest growth, at 11,4% y/y, demonstrating the trend among local producers of making more red wine in response to rising demand for red wine in the world’s largest markets such as the US and UK. Shiraz in particular saw a sharp 59,4% y/y rise in export growth, with Merlot not far behind at 47,6% y/y, thanks to producers having added many new plantings of these varieties in recent years.
Exports of bottled white wines rose 2,8% y/y, with 5,7% y/y growth in bottled white wines but a 3% y/y fall in bulk whites. Bottled Chardonnays were popular, posting a 30,6% y/y increase.
Fortified wines demonstrated an overall drop in export volumes of about 19% y/y to 427 705 litres, with bulk fortifieds declining almost 48%. Sparkling wines, however, posted good gains of 11% y/y, to 1,56-million litres. – I-Net Bridge