An amazing discovery

The Chinese mainland has been an amazing discovery for the South African wine industry. In 2011, South African wine exports to China were below 5.5 million liters. But in five years it has nearly trebled, according to statistics from the Department of Agriculture, South African Directorate of Food Safety and Quality Assurance. At present, China is South Africa’s sixth largest export market for packaged wines by volume, and the largest in the Asian region.

“The South African category in China grew exponentially in 2013-15,” said Michaela Stander, Market Manager at Wines of South Africa (WOSA). “Many in the trade cited [it] as the surprise of 2015 as [South African wine] took up seventh position in terms of origin for imported wine.”

While the top five export destinations for packaged South African wine are the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States, Stander said China continues to grow in importance as an export destination, accounting for 3.7 percent of total exports in 2016 at 15.76 million liters.

“Some expected the South African category to decline somewhat in 2016, but instead we remained steady and are now in a position to overtake the United States for sixth spot,” Stander added. ”Across the world, we have noted a rising interest in South African wine as consumers are becoming more adventurous and keen to make new wine discoveries.south African wine is entering a new era.”

Buoyed by the trend, WOSA, a non-profit created to promote South African wine in major export markets, opened an office in Hong Kong, China, in 2014. “Having a regional base means we can better capitalize on opportunities in the region. We can now more effectively support the growing number of South African wine companies trading in Asia, along with their importers, through increased education, networking and involve-