Wednesday, 30 October, 2024
Daily Maverick, Ray Mahlaka
There are two tales to tell about SA’s R57-billion wine industry.
On one hand, consumption of wine in SA has recovered over the past two years, telling a story of robust growth and exuberance in the industry.
Most of the consumption growth came after the end of Covid restrictions, which barred sales of wine and induced a drought across the country from 2020 to 2021.
On the other hand, there is also a story of wine farms across SA still facing profitability problems despite the resurgence of wine sales and consumption.
FTI Consulting conducted a comprehensive study for the wine industry umbrella body, SA Wine, detailing the industry’s impact on the economy in 2022, with insights stretching back over the past decade. The study is the latest available and is widely relied on by the industry.
The FTI Consulting study provides an overview of the wine industry, which contributed R56.5-billion to SA’s economic activity in 2022 and supported 270,364 jobs. There are 89,384 hectares of vineyards in SA, most of which (97%) are in the Western Cape. The country is the eighth-largest wine producer, producing about 4% of the world’s wine.
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