New Zealand outscores SA at wine exports

Average price three times higher than SA product ALAN PEAT IN THE battle for supremacy in the global wine market, New Zealand has SA beaten hollow, according to a market analysis by Dr Ron Sandrey, a senior research fellow at the SA Trade Law Centre (tralac). Wine is the main agricultural export from SA, he said, and in recent years it has seemed to be riding the wave of the so-called ‘new world’ exporters of SA, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina and the US. However, it is important to probe a little further in assessing how well this country is doing against its competitors globally. Tralac has been comparing and contrasting the implications of the agricultural reforms in NZ in the 1980s and SA during the 1990s - with a particular emphasis on the marketing of agricultural products. One of the directly comparable sectors is SA’s wine export performance against NZ’s globally, according to Sandrey. “This analysis clearly shows that, based upon an average global trade price, New Zealand wines consistently outperform South African wines with an average price of three times that of South African product - and are well ahead of France for the top position.” Sandrey queries whether its success is a function of the relatively new growth of New Zealand’s industry or more astute global marketing. “That’s a moot point,” he said. “Perhaps SA, in emerging from global isolation in the 1990s, set its pricing structures at too low a level and is now finding that it is difficult to move up in this fickle sector. “Or is it just that New Zealand’s wine is much superior?”