|
RECENT ARTICLES | WYNBOER HOME
VinPro(SA) Bulletin
|
Wine sales seem to be awakening from a slumber period. SAWIS has just announced that domestic sales of unfortified wine have increased by 5% for the 12 months from June 1999 to May 2000!
|
Wine exports show steep increase
South Africa's total exports of natural wine have increased by 20% compared to the corresponding period the previous year. The latest wine export figures have just been announced by SAWIS.
These extremely positive results were obtained in the 12 month period from June 1999 to May 2000. The six month period from December 1999 to May 2000 shows an even bigger increase of 30%, which is good reason to hope that the increasing trend will continue throughout the rest of 2000.
The accompanying figure indicates that the increase in packaged wine exports consistently exceeded that of bulk wine exports. Total exports of packaged products increased by almost 25%, while bulk exports increased by 9%. The increased focus on packaged wine exports is a sign that South African wine producers have come to recognise the positive financial implications of added value and brand driven production of quality wines.
The above trend was noticed especially in the red wine market, where packaged exports increased by 32%, while bulk wine exports remained constant.
Packaged white wine exports increased by 18%, while bulk white wine exports increased by 15%.
Red wine prices still indicate healthy growth
Although prices at which South African bulk wine was sold in 1999 showed a slight decrease globally in 1999, red wine prices still displayed healthy growth. This can be deducted from information just released by SAWIS.
Although there was healthy growth in premium and non-premium red wine prices, the non-premium red wines in particular indicated an above-average growth of 14%. This trend continued in the first four months of 2000. The increase in red wine prices, together with the strong growth in exports, indicates that the market has not yet reached saturation level with regard to South African red wine.
However, selling prices for bulk white wine indicated a decrease of between 5% and 10% in 1999, with prices dropping even further in the first quarter of 2000.
The indications are therefore that white wines of comparable quality are selling in lower price classes this year, due to the large supply and the influence of the free market mechanisms.
|
VinPro Bulletin indispensable for producers
Regardless of how they get it, wine farmers are adamant that they want to receive the VinPro Bulletin! That much was indicated by 206 respondents in questionnaires about this producer newsletter at the recent district conferences.
Altogether 56% of the respondents consider the VinPro Bulletin as very important and 41% as important, while only 3% could not care whether they received it or not.
Most of the respondents prefer a combination of short and in-depth articles and 41% value market information the most, while 31% would like statistics and 28% consider agricultural economic information the most important.
Respondents attach great value to the following news items: production and sales, agricultural economic information, composition of cultivars, unsold wine and market information.
The following topics were considered important: international comparisons with SA, EU negotiations, Chenin Blanc Producers' Association and the macro economy.
|
|
|
|
|
Wynboer is incorporated in WineLand, magazine of the SA wine producers.
Subscribe to WineLand
Visit our sister sites:
South African wine farmers' representative organisation
Facts, figures, contact details and much more in the 2009/10 Directory
|
