By Fakir Hassen, IANS
Johannesburg : A company in which former South African cricket all rounder Jonty Rhodes has a third share is hoping that his popularity in India will help boost sales of the wine they plan to export from South Africa.
Grai Import and Export has hit a six by signing a deal with India’s United Breweries (UB) for exclusive supply of South African wines to India, the Afrikaans weekly Rapport reported here.
Rhodes, who remains a hero in the cricketing fraternity in India despite his retirement a few years ago, is a director of the company.
According to another director and partner of Grai Import and Export, Stefan Gerber, they will export exclusive South African wines to United Vintners, a subsidiary of United Spirits, which in turn is part of the UB Group.
United Vintners recently announced that it would import wine from four countries, including South Africa, as the demand was growing in India.
Abhay Kewadkar, manager at United Vintners, was quoted by wine magazine Sommelier India as saying that his company wanted to sell six million bottles of wine over the next five years and wanted to capture a third of the market in India.
The wine market in India is growing at 25-30 percent per year, although consumption per head is still very low.
Gerber said he believed there was potential for South Africa to sell 10 million cases or 90 million litres of wine to India in the next decade.
The current contract between the companies is valid for five years and renewable for another five.
Excited about the prospects in the huge Indian market, Gerber said the deal would give South African wine access to the huge UB distribution network in India, selling alongside UB’s leading beer brand Kingfisher.
Gerber added that deals have already been tied up with three South African cellars, and three more would be concluded soon to fulfil the obligations to United Vintners.