04 Apr 2025 Ouch! Trump’s tariffs a huge blow for SA’s wine industry

US importers are reportedly already telling SA suppliers orders are cancelled…..

The shock ‘liberation day’ tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump are going to hit many industries around the world, including our own local wine industry.

The 30% tariff Donald Trump announced for South African imports is both higher and lower than those for some competing wine-producing countries.

The Money Show’s Stephen Grootes interviewed wine expert Anthony Fridjhon (Wine Wizard) and fine wine importer Bartholomew Broadbent (Broadbent Solutions).

Fridjhon pointed out that around two thirds of Cape wines are exported to the US in bulk.

“That is really a very price-sensitive market; and a 30% tariff when Chile, Australia and Argentina are at a 10% tariff and the European Union at 20%, effectively puts us out of the game,” he said.

“With this affecting an approximate 16-17 million litres of bulk wine, it will be hard to find another market for without job losses.”

When it comes to the bottled wine market, US importers also cannot risk the impact of these tariffs on the price sensitivity of Cape wine, he adds: “We’re already hearing stories of US importers telling their SA suppliers that any orders in the pipeline are simply cancelled.”

While there’s an opportunity now for BRICS partners to step in to help fill the void, Fridjhon is skeptical about this happening.

Echoing Fridjhon’s remarks, Bartholomew Broadbent said their biggest customers have already cancelled all orders from Europe, and South Africa presents an even bigger problem.

“10% on tariffs from some countries is manageable, 20% for Europe is pretty difficult… but 30% for South Africa is impossible. And that 30% actually ends up closer to 45-50% when the markups of all the parties in the distribution chain are added before a restaurant customer for instance buys it,” Broadbent said.

“We work with the top wineries in South Africa… and this is going to kill the market for many of them,” he lamented.

Listen to the interviews here on the Primedia app – (skip to 3:42 for wine discussion):

Source: Primedia