Wine exports to US get major boost

Wines of South Africa (Wosa) has added its support to the newly formed USA Producers’ Association (Usapa) efforts to build a presence in the US market. The group, which convened for the first time in Stellenbosch last week , aims to raise the profile of SA wine in the American market, which is set to become the biggest wine importer by 2012. Wosa CEO Su Birch has levelled criticism at the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) for shifting its export focus away from developed countries because of the global credit crunch. “The US remains the fastest-growing wine market by value. It is thus a shame that the dti has not factored the special characteristics of world wine economics into its strategy.” She said the complexity of the US market with its three-tier structure and differing individual state legislative requirements had proved problematic for South Africa to date. This had been compounded by the lack of exposure on the part of most Americans to South Africa as a wine-producing nation. At the same time, competition from other producing countries had intensified in this market. Without access to government funding, Wosa’s investment in the US market had remained at R3.5m (about US$350 000) per annum. In contrast, Chile’s generic spend had reached US$6m and Australia’s, US$25m, thanks to the support from their governments. As a result, despite the continued growth in consumption of wine by Americans, South Africa’s exports of packaged wines to the US had dropped from about 1 million nine-litre cases two years ago, to some 760 000 cases in 2008, in sharp contrast to South Africa’s stellar performance in other markets. Usapa hopes in its first year of operation to raise US$500 000 in funds through membership fees and a percentage of FOB revenue generated by producers in the US.