SOUTH AFRICA – South Africa has overtaken South Korea as the world’s largest exporter of cider, perry, mead and other fermented beverages with 2018 shipments from each country amounting to approximately 108 million liters.
According to a recent report by research and consultancy firm, IndexBox, South Korea- which has long been a world leader in cider exports – has been registering a rapid decline in exports by as much as 50% within the past five years.
The report, ‘World – Cider, Perry, Mead And Other Fermented Beverages – Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends And Insights’ indicates that in contrast, South Africa increased its shipments to other countries by offering products at the lowest prices.
The report highlights that approximately 1.1 billion litres of cider, perry, mead and other fermented beverages were exported worldwide in 2018, representing a 3.8% decline compared to the the previous year.
During the period, cider, perry and mead exports continued to register a relatively flat trend pattern and stood at US$1.5 billion, according to Indebox estimates.
“The growth pace was the most rapid in 2017 when exports increased by 0.7% y-o-y. In that year, global cider, perry and mead exports reached their peak of 1.2 billion litres, and then declined slightly in the following year,” the report highlights.
In 2018, South Africa climbed to the top global exporter of cider, perry and mead at 108 million litres, ranking at the same position with South Korea, the long-time leader in the global cider export market.
According to the report, Sweden exported 102M litres, Germany (76M litres), Ireland (73M litres), the UK (66M litres), Belgium (59M litres), the Netherlands (53M litres), France (44M litres), Italy (41M litres), Lithuania (37M litres) and Japan (36M litres), together accounting for 71% of total export.
However, the most notable rate of growth in terms of exports, amongst the main exporting countries, was attained by the UK, while exports for the other global leaders experienced more modest paces of growth during the 2014-2018 period.
Comparing by the markets by Value, Indebox’ report reveals that the largest cider, perry and mead supplying countries worldwide were Japan at US$210M, Sweden at US$134M and Italy US$112M, with a combined 30% share of global exports.
Among the major exporting countries, Japan recorded the highest rates of growth with regard to the value of exports, over the period under review, while exports for the other global leaders experienced more modest paces of growth.
In 2018, the average cider, perry and mead export price recorded a high single digit growth, growing by 7.8% against the previous year to US$1.3 per litre.
However, the report notes that prices varied noticeably by the country of origin with Japan reporting the highest price at US$5.8 per litre, while South Africa, at US$0.6 per litre was amongst the lowest.
“From 2014 to 2018, the most notable rate of growth in terms of prices was attained by Japan, while the other global leaders experienced mixed trends in the export price figures,” IndeBox further noted.
