The South African wine industry exported a record 525 million liters in 2013,  a 26 percent increase on the previous record achieved in the previous year, with shipments to the UK, the largest wine export market for the country, driving the growth.

Wine export to the UK, which accounted for more than a fifth of total volumes in 2013, rose 21 percent t, while those to Germany jumped 24 percent. Shipments to Russia gained 18 percent to 37.3 million liters.

“It is encouraging that strong gains were achieved in the UK and Germany, our two biggest markets, where packaged wines in particular showed very healthy growth,” Wines of South Africa’s chief executive Siobhan Thompson told Offlicence News.

“Packaged wines to the UK were up 31 per cent and Germany saw an increase of 17 per cent. At the same time, exports also grew across an increasingly broad range of other markets,” he added

Thompson attributed the growth to a bountiful harvest in 2013, which saw South Africa plug gaps left by poor harvests across Europe.

White wine exports rose by almost 18 percent and reds were up 22 percent. Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Pinotage and Merlot saw the largest increases in volume exported.

South Africa was the eighth-largest wine producer in 2012, accounting for 4 percent of global output, according to South African Wine Industry Information & Systems. Since then, exports have been boosted by the depreciation of the rand, the worst-performing major currency against the dollar last year after it lost 19 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.