Drinkers in South Africa may cheer the government s decision to lift the latest bar on alcohol sales, but the wine sector fears the move has come too late to save thousands of jobs.
The key industry has been badly hit by a string of booze bans, imposed to ease the number of trauma cases in hospitals burdened by coronavirus patients.
The third such restriction, imposed on December 28 as South Africa struggled with a second Covid wave, was lifted on Monday.
But the announcement will do little to raise morale.
Wine businesses have not been able to earn any income from local wine sales for a total of 20 weeks since March 2020, said Rico Basson, head of Vin Pro, representing 2,500 producers and other stakeholders in the wine industry.
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The South African wine industry has been hit hard by bans of alcohol sales during various Covid-19 lockdowns, resulting in many producers going out of business. afp
South Africa’s wine industry reeling from alcohol bans
Tue, 9 February 2021
Drinkers in South Africa may cheer the government’s decision to lift the latest bar on alcohol sales, but the wine sector fears the move has come too late to save thousands of jobs.
The key industry has been badly hit by a string of booze bans, imposed to ease the number of trauma cases in hospitals burdened by coronavirus patients.
South Africa s wine industry reels from alcohol bans georgeherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from georgeherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The slowdown in wine consumption has left many producers with a storage headache.
The country is awash with more than 300 million litres (79 million gallons) of surplus wine at a time when workers are already in the fields to pick the current harvest.
Many vineyards lack the space for the grapes or the money to harvest, bottle and label for the 2021 season.
“Most sellers don’t have lots of space capacity in terms of tanks. And with the harvest starting now those tanks need to be ready to receive the 2021 harvest,” said Gerard Holden, owner of Holden Manz wine.
“You’re in a Catch-22,” he said.