SA wines find growing market in West Africa

RAY SMUTS SOUTH AFRICA’S high quality standard of wines and affordable prices provide a compelling value-for-money proposition for West African importers. A mission by Western Cape trade and promotion agency Wesgro to Ghana, Cameroon and Angola focused strongly on wine promotion, resulting in a number of companies accompanying the mission securing orders to export their wines. Blouvlei Wines is exporting product to Ghana while Ambico Trading is exporting to both Cameroon and Angola. Michael Gamwo, manager of Wesgro’s Africa desk, says South Africa’s unique geographical positioning places it ideally to cater for the West Africa market, the success of which is dependent on a constant presence in order to build relationships. He advises exporters to adapt their products to cater for the taste preferences of consumers in other African countries, which often differ from South Africa. “Packaging should be scrutinised in terms of appearance and labelling as language on labels could be important to the success of South African products in Africa.” The untapped business opportunities in West Africa are what led Wesgro to develop its unique Western Africa Trade Corridor Strategy to increase trade to the region. Ranked ninth in overall production, South Africa currently produces 3.1% of the world’s wine.