In South Africa, hail and rainfall that hit some parts of the Cape this week are thought to have had minimal impact on overall production levels.
Wet weather in the Hex River Valley in particular has been downplayed by the table grape industry, although there has been some damage to the crop.
According to early estimates by the South African Table Grape Industry (SATI), the precipitation could mean a reduction in the crop of 500,000 cartons. This would not represent a major slice of the crop, with the yearly Hex River Valley forecast expected to remain similar to last year's level at 17.3m-17.8m cartons.
Veteran grower Anton Viljoen told Eurofruit that the hail was isolated to small patches, and would only impact on 3 per cent of his total crop, while noting that the weather had now returned to normal.
Viljoen added that packing would be delayed by a couple of days. However, he also confirmed that their was currently a record Crimson Seedless crop in the orchard, with the Hex River Valley one of the premier areas for the variety, which is particularly popular in Eastern markets.
In the Ceres region, meanwhile, some growers had also suffered isolated hail damage, which may have impacted on topfruit production, although there are no official estimates as yet.
Far eastern regions of South Africa have also seen above-average rainfall this week, with potential for damage as banks have overflowed, although this has not yet been attributed to any crops specifically.
