The production teams on the Karsten Group's farms in the Orange River region of South Africa are taking a well-earned rest after harvesting 3.3m cartons of grapes for the export market this season.
'Despite the fact that the weather posed some challenges during the final week of the season, we had an excellent harvest,' said Piet du Plessis, general manager of Karsten farms in the Orange River. 'We started in week 45 and managed to land more than 1m cartons in the market before Christmas, which is a great performance on its own.'
Mr Du Plessis noted that one of the group's earliest farms, Raap & Skraap, which is located on the South African side of the Orange River north of Pofadder, managed to pack 1.02m cartons for the first time. 'Almost half this volume reached the market before Christmas,' he said. 'In general, we had excellent quality and berry-size.'
Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that the total crop in the Orange River region exceeded 16m cartons, 500,000 cartons more than the predicted volume.
Peu Bezuidenhout of Rekopane Estates said that some growers had been affected by hail and rain, but in general the Orange River had enjoyed a good season. 'We had our fair share of disappointments in previous seasons, but this year we packed an excellent crop,' he explained.
The estimate for the South African crop is now projected by SATI at somewhere between 49.4m cartons and 51.7m cartons. According to SATI, most of the production regions either reached their estimate of exceeded it.
The exception to this has been the Berg River region, where, according to SATI, the total crop is expected to drop from an estimated 11m cartons to 10.3m cartons. SATI, however, noted that the Berg River estimate may well drop further, which is confirmed by growers who believe that their crop may be down by as much as 50 per cent.
Elsewhere, the earliest region in the north of the country packed 4m cartons despite disruptions caused by unseasonable weather, the Olifants River region is on target with around 1.7m cartons and SATI predicts that the crop in the late Hex River Valley region will hit between 18m-20m cartons.
However, well-known Hex River Valley grower Anton Viljoen said that this forecast may be overly optimistic, and that the growers in the Valley predicted their own crop at 17.8m cartons. Mr Viljoen noted that the latest information indicated the crop may end up around 16m cartons. If this proves correct, the total crop will drop below 50m cartons.
The South African table grape season is expected to continue to early April, underlining the country’s ability to supply the international market with fresh grapes for more than six months.
