Rico Basson, managing director of the wine industry organisation, Vinpro, says the industry, however, still has a long road to recovery as many wine businesses had to close down. He says a long road to recovery lies ahead for the industry as a whole which is believed to have lost more than R7 billion since the introduction of sales restrictions in March this year. Here is Basson...

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He says although the wine industry is grateful to start trading and delivering online sales again, it is dismayed at the extent of the damage caused during the temporary ban on exports and extended restrictions on local sale. “It might be too little too late."

Following the initial nine-week ban on local sales, the five-week ban on exports, and the most recent domestic sales ban, Vinpro estimates more than 80 wineries and 350 wine grape producers would go out of business over the next 18 months. This is a potential loss of more than 21 000 jobs across the value chain.

According to Basson, Vinpro has been working closely with industry partners on a disaster recovery plan to address the urgent need to stabilise the sector. This includes the extension of further excise relief for the current year, as well as the 2021 season, addressing bottlenecks and challenges at the Cape Town Port. Solutions will also be formulated to reduce the current wine surplus of around 300 million litres.

“The wine industry is geared to reopen domestic trade and distribution with all necessary health and safety regulations in place while focusing on changing behaviour with regard to responsible production, promotion, trade, and consumption,” says Basson.

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