South Africa has shipped considerably less grapes to major marketing regions so far this year, following a late start to the harvesting season and rain disruptions in the Orange River region.
Orange River rainfall reduced the crop by some 2.5m cartons, while elsewhere, a later start to the season has frustrated growers, resulting in 27 per cent less grapes being shipped by the end of week 52 when compared with the previous year.
Industry body SATI reported that rainfall during the last three weeks had caused significant crop losses in the mid and late areas of the Orange River region.
'In the Augrabies and Kakamas, losses were especially high on Flame Seedless, Sugraone, Sugrathirteen and early Thompson Seedless,' SATI reported. 'The later areas experienced losses on Flame Seedless and early Thompson Seedless.'
SATI noted that growers in the region lost about 15 per cent of the expected total crop volume for the region, resulting in the estimate falling from 16.9m to 14.4m cartons.
At the same time, growers in the Northern region of country has experience relatively dry conditions which is excellent for harvesting.
'The packing tempo is high and excellent quality grapes are being packed,' SATI continued. 'The last Red Globe and Black Gem are being packed, while Crimson Seedless volumes are expected to increase during week two.'
In all the other regions, from the Olifants River to the Berg River and the Hex River Valley, volumes are running behind on last year's exports due to a crop which is, generally, about a week later than last year.
Shipments to Northern Europe are down by around 2m cartons compared to the same period last year, while falling by 1m cartons to the UK and to the Far East, one of the country’s fastest-growing export regions, by more than 50 per cent.
The only region that has received a greater volume of grapes year-on-year is the Middle East, but volumes are still below those of 2010/2011 and 2009/10.
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