SOUTH AFRICA – La RicMal Wines, a wine producing company in South Africa has unveiled plans of investing in a new bottling plant in Ghana to tap into the growing demand of South African wine in the country.
According to the Marketing manager of the Stellenbosch-based Western Cape wine company, Malcolm Green, the investment also seeks to cement the position of South African wine ahead of other multinational wineries in the Ghana’s wine sector.
“Over the years we have seen the demand for the south African wines in Ghana growing as a result of an increase in their consumption.
Our research has established that the volumes of SA wines consumed in Ghana are starting to overtake the French and Portuguese wines.
This is due to the fact that Ghana has a strong appreciation for the South African products and recognises us as one of the countries in the world that produce wines of highest quality and taste,” said Green.
The winery will be participating in an upcoming Outward Trade and Investment Mission to Ghana organised by the Department of Trade and Industry through its Export Marketing and Investment Assistance Scheme, reports Business Report.
The objective of the scheme is to develop export markets for South African products and services and to recruit new foreign direct investment into the country.
“We will be using the trip to Ghana to continue the discussion with the businesspeople in Ghana on our plan for a partnership or joint venture in setting up a bottling plant there.
We are looking at exporting bulk wines to Ghana, and bottling the wines in that country.
This will make it easier and cost-effective for us to export to the West African region and beyond with Ghana being the hub,” he noted.
Green says the impressive increase of the SA wine exports to Ghana has inspired his company to set up a bottling plant in Ghana in order to expand its footprint to the West African region.
“It will be a win-win situation for all of us as a South African company will be investing in the Ghanaian economy and creating employment for the people of Ghana and exporting the South African product to the country,” said Green.
The producer of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot wines already has its products in Nigeria, Mali, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Kenya and Mozambique in addition to its Shiraz and Sauvignon-Blanc brands.