Industry at odds about wine export sales performance

Confusing signals about the well-being of South African wine sales, particularly those export-related, were ‘uncorked’ recently. Wine of the Month Club boss Colin Collard had the industry in fermentation with his assertion that all is not entirely well here and abroad, despite an excellent ’09 harvest and better-than-ever wines coming onto the market. This raised the defences of Wines of South Africa (Wosa), the country’s international marketer, renowned winemaker Nederburg, and South African Wine Information Systems (Sawis), over what has been described as a “miscommunication” on Collard’s part by a source close to the industry. (He certainly has not made such an admission to FTW). Rudolph du Toit, Nederburg’s global marketing manager, says: “While it is true that the UK is witnessing a contraction in consumer spend, wine brands representing good value continue to appeal. “The entire South African wine category is climbing and Nederburg is no exception.” (Nederburg does not, as a matter of policy, refer to export volumes in detail) Wosa CEO Su Birch painted a bright canvas of the country’s wine prowess, pointing to rising international sales. Sky-TV’s recent primetime ‘Jeff Randall Live’ show assured viewers the country was up there with the best. Collard says the industry has been hit by the global economic crisis. Some producer export orders have been cancelled due to difficult trading conditions and overall wine sales in pubs and clubs have declined by one million bottles in Britain over the past year. (The UK remains South Africa’s major market). Responding to an FTW e-mail about reassurances of the state of the industry, Collard says: “In what way, or on what counts, do Wosa and Nederburg say overseas sales or exports are up? That would be encouraging news and I would be glad to spread it around.” Latest data from Sawis points to growth of 23.2% in South African ‘natural’ wine exports in the year to March, with packaged exports up 15.4% over the same period – a certain pointer that some rivals in other countries are losing market share. As consumers around the world cut their favourite brands to match shrinking disposable income, the global crunch has impacted in positive fashion for South African sparkling wine, with sales up 60%. But no matter how impressive 300% and 200% sales increases in Romania and the Czech Republic may seem, what does it mean for South Africa in terms of volume sales?