Prioritise roads and ports in Budget 2025 – Wine SA

“[This is particularly in] relation to efforts aimed at improving efficiencies at the Port of Cape Town and the delivery of electricity,” he said.

He said while improvements had been made at the Cape Town port, more needed to be done.

“A well-functioning port is just as important to the wine industry as the fruit industry, because we have contracts that need to be met at specific times. Failure to meet these targets could negatively impact prices and market relations.”

He added that the industry also needed access to a secure and sustainable supply of electricity.

“Producers and wineries have already spent millions of rands on generators and solar systems to reduce costs and their vulnerability to load-shedding, money that should have been invested in the planting of new vineyards. [This has] contributed to an ageing vineyard profile, which is threatening the sustainability of the industry.”

He also said that government needed to allocate more resources to address crime and fix roads to unlock the full potential of wine tourism in the country.

“Wine tourism is unique to the wine industry. We see it as a magnet that attracts people to the country. It not only helps to build loyalty to South African wine brands, but also produce spin-offs for the rest of the economy as these visitors usually also visit game parks and other tourist attractions.”

He added that the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan needed to attract the same attention as the electricity, corruption and crime and logistics crises, and that government and the private sector needed to work together to create a favourable environment for the industry to grow as set out in the master plan.

He further said that he hoped government would rethink proposed changes to wine excise taxation, as published in the excise tax policy paper in November.

“We submitted a response to the paper, in which we sketched the devastating consequences these changes would have on the industry if implemented, and asked government to consider the contribution of the wine industry and wine tourism in growing the economy, rural development and job creation.

“We faced an increase of CPI plus 2,5% last year and have requested the increase in the excise tax rate to be limited to a maximum of the (CPI), and not above in 2025/26, due to the financial pressure facing the industry.”

Moving forward, Conradie said he hoped government would engage with the wine industry regarding proposed policy changes, considering their potential impact on the sector.

“Lastly, we would like government to foster relations with existing and new trading partners. We cannot afford to alienate our partners. When President Donald Trump, for instance, threaten to cut us off and raises questions about expropriation without compensation, we need to clearly communicate that we would like to continue our relationship and address any matters that might affect the relationship negatively.

“By doing all of these and creating policy certainty, we will strengthen investor confidence.”