Pricier SA wines make headway in UK

The South African wine industry is hoping for a 10% hike in packaged wines this year – provided the rand behaves itself. This certainly is the belief of Su Birch, CEO of Wines of South Africa (Wosa), the country’s export marketing arm, in response to latest UK data from AC Nielsen indicating the country continues to rank as the fastest-growing wine region in that particular sector. Volume market share increased to 12.3% last year, up from 10.4% in 2008. Although still in fourth place in the UK, South Africa is now virtually on par with France, which occupies third ranking behind Australia and the US. (France leads South Africa with a mere 0.1% market share). Total supermarket sales grew 24% in volume and 23% in value last year, SA Wine Information Systems (Sawis) calculating the country’s packaged wines to the UK were up 11% last year, over 2008. “The most encouraging development of all has been the impressive expansion of South African wine sales at price points of £5 and higher,” says Birch. “Those retailing for £7 to £9.99, representing a slightly smaller segment of the market, rose 27% and those above £10, also a smaller category, were up 43% over 2008.” Birch adds it has long been the goal of South African producers to shift away from the “extreme value” segment, in order to ensure the industry’s long-term sustainability, even though Wosa remains concerned about the effect of the South African economy on profit margins.