WOSA CEO Su Birch is confident that the 2010 soccer world cup is going to boost the sale of South African wine at home, as an estimated 450,000 foreign tourists visit the country, as well as in supermarket promotions around the world.
“There is huge interest and excitement around 2010 … there isn’t a supermarket group in Europe that doesn’t want to do a South African promotion,” Birch told the Reuters news service.
Reuters reported Birch as saying that exports for South Africa’s packaged wines were expected to increase by between 10 to 15 percent in 2010. “The interest around South Africa and South African wines as a result of 2010 is just phenomenal.”
However, not all the news was good with the strengthening rand hitting wine and other exporters. “The currency is a huge worry and we fear that if it doesn’t move it will, long term, be the death knell of the industry,” Birch was quoted as saying. “It is crippling because nobody can make any (profit) margins and what is worse is the huge volatility.”
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