Thursday, 21 January, 2021
Forbes, Cathy Huyghe
With 2021’s grape harvest in the southern hemisphere just around the corner, and without access to regular sales channels for their wines, producers are left with significant amounts of inventory on-hand that may go to waste because of storage issues.
Those concerns, plus the loss of direct sales to consumers that have also been restricted, exacerbates an already-challenging economic situation for winemakers in the Western Cape and wine-affiliated businesses throughout South Africa.
It seems non-sensical, to repeatedly ban the sale of alcohol country-wide and tie it, at least rhetorically, to concerns around COVID without consideration for the far-reaching financial impact that reverberates throughout the entire beverage alcohol industry. Today’s post dives deeper into three fundamental questions to try to reach a better understanding: What is the rationale behind the bans? How is the wine industry as a whole reacting? And how has the situation impacted South African wineries, both big and small?
Demands on medical personnel and the health system nationwide is a frequently-cited reason. Without the sale of alcohol, the rationale goes, there will be fewer patients at hospitals and trauma units due to a reduced number of traffic accidents and violent crimes. If there are fewer urgent trauma patients, then more medical personnel and hospital beds can be redirected to the treatment of COVID patients. Research is already underway to study whether this is actually happening.
Click HERE to read the full article