Negative growth in real prices for wine grapes over the past decade;Sustainability of primary wine producers, who have been under severe pressure for many years;Old age of vineyards and resultant low yields; andThe laundry list of reasons for this decline is long but it all comes as part of a global trend that has posted a loss of 2.5 million hectares of vineyards over 20 years.
This decline comes after a period of rapid growth, with the political transition, new access into export markets and a quality revolution in South Africa. “If you are a grape farmer, you can imagine what has happened to the price of your tractor, chemicals, fuel, labour – all of those things have gone up.”
“[The industry] is going backwards and the main reason for that is financial sustainability. We don’t have any government support,” she said.“For some who sell wine at more than R100 a bottle, [business] is bigger than what it was five years ago – those are the ones that employ the most people, that bring in the most tourists, who have the biggest economic impact,” Vink said.
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