South African table grape growers are expected to end their packing season early this year after excellent weather resulted in grapes ripening much earlier than in the past few years.
Growers in the Hex River Valley, the latest of all the South African regions, said that 2015 had produced an unprecedented early ripening season.
The result is that by week 9, more than 80 per cent of the South African export table grape crop had already been packed, with the total volume running around 13m cartons ahead of last season. More than 40m cartons had already been exported, compared with 29.6m cartons at the end of the same week last year.
The packed volume at the end of week 9 included half of the Hex River Valley crop. Growers are speculating that by the middle of March the Hex River crop will just about be done and dusted – In the past packing continued well into April.
So far 83 per cent of all grapes have been exported to the European Union and the UK, with South East Asia receiving 9 per cent and the Middle East 5 per cent. Other smaller markets received 3 per cent of the total volume.
With the harvest so far advanced there is now every likelihood that South African grapes will be in short supply during the late season. This again could boost prices in what has so far been a very disappointing season.
The early regions such as the Orange River are reportedly particularly hard hit by the early to mid-season slump in prices, and sources say that a very large percentage of growers in the region will not cover their production costs.
