South Africa chronic oversupply could be golden news for UK drinkers
South Africa’s wine industry has had a bad Covid-19 pandemic - temporary export bans and on again, off again prohibition has resulted in a 300m litre wine lake, but who is going to drink it up?
Domestic sales in South Africa are down 21% and export sales are steady. The resulting over supply will see prices soften and according to South Africa’s wine producers’ body VinPro, 80 wineries and 350 growers could exit the industry. With the South African rand very weak, exporting could be the answer. Currently South Africa exports 1% of production to China, so ramping this up quickly to fill the shoes of Australia, which has suffered punitive import taxes, may be an option.
It looks like Australia and South Africa could be making a larger showing on the UK's dining tables in 2021.
