The timing of the harvest of the first grapes is critical because shippers try to place grapes on supermarket shelves in the UK and northern Europe prior to Christmas, in an attempt to secure good returns.
One of the earliest and largest production regions is along the Orange River, the border between South Africa and Namibia. Here, grapes are harvested in desert conditions and temperatures soar to more than 30oC daily, so rapid cooling and packing is crucial. For seafreight, the grapes are transported 800km from this region to the Port of Cape Town in refrigerated trucks, and thus the race to make it to the markets in time poses a considerable logistical challenge.
The last sea shipment that will meet the pre-Christmas deadline leaves South Africa this week. Despite the incentive of good returns, however, variable weather in South Africa’s northern Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces has caused minor delays in harvesting and the volumes leaving on this ship are likely to be slightly less than anticipated.
The cautious signs of recovery in the global economic climate, coupled with a shorter-than-anticipated Brazilian grape season, have created a positive start to the marketing season. The exchange rate of the rand to both sterling and the euro is a little less favourable than last year, so the current price levels will be helpful to counter this. “This year’s total harvest is estimated to be up against last year and the current estimate is between 50 million cartons and 52.8m cartons compared to last year, when the total crop was 50.7m cartons,” says Sifiso Ntombela of the South African table grape industry’s market intelligence division.
The early production regions in Namibia and South Africa along the Orange River have experienced some cooler weather during the past two weeks and although this has delayed the ripening of the early varieties by a few days, cooler evening temperatures in this desert climate have been beneficial for colour development on red seedless varieties. “Our production units in Namibia started harvesting in late November and have already shipped off good-quality Early Sweet and Prime Seedless crops,” says Leon Van Biljon, deciduous business manager for Dole South Africa. “The colour development on red seedless varieties such as Flame Seedless and Ralli has benefited from the cooler weather throughout the region and growers are expecting good yields from these vines as well.”
André van Wyk, technical manager for SATI, agrees. “Thus far, growing conditions have been favourable in all growing regions and the harvest is yielding healthy grapes with good berry sizes and colour, as well as excellent eating quality,” he says. “Although there are some areas in South Africa currently experiencing droughts, these are not affecting grape production. The past winter has been cold and wet and this is beneficial for the dormancy period of the grapes and other deciduous fruit.”
Following production in the northern regions along the Orange River and in Mpumalanga and Limpopo, the next region to start harvesting is the Olifants River Valley, followed by later production in the Berg and Hex River regions. In these later production regions, indications are that the crop is a few days to a week later than usual. “The vineyards in the Hex River Valley are looking promising, with exceptional growth. The season is developing much like last year and although there have been some labour problems, these seem to be resolving themselves,” says De Villiers Graaff, chairman of the Hex River Valley Table Grape Producers’ Association and shareholder in Delecta Fruit Exports. “From a Delecta perspective, we are excited about the Fairtrade opportunities we have for the season with Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer.”
The market’s current interest in black seedless varieties has seen producers clamouring to plant more of these types of grapes. Although the production volumes of these dark seedless varieties are on the increase, the bulk of South African production volumes are still white and red seedless grapes, as well as the traditional white, red and black seeded varieties, which are primarily sent to markets in northern Europe.
Many South African grape growers still produce a large percentage of seeded varieties, while global demand for seedless grapes has grown rapidly as consumers show a marked preference for them. This has resulted in demand for seedless grapes currently exceeding supply, while seeded grapes are rapidly losing their appeal. “The biggest challenge facing grape producers is how rapidly they can replace traditional seeded varieties with seedless ones,” says Francois Rossouw, of Mooigezicht Estates in the Hex Valley. “The release of new varieties is currently very topical among growers, and exporters are co-operating with various role players to make promising new varieties available to our markets. It is important to continue with this renewal process and proactively plant popular seedless varieties as the market for seeded grapes is shrinking rapidly,” he adds.
Red Globe is the largest variety produced in South Africa, at approximately 6.1m cartons. This is followed by Thompson Seedless (5.7m cartons), Prime Seedless (5.2m), Dauphine (4.9m), Crimson Seedless (4.5m) and Sugraone (4.5m).
Market demand for black seedless grapes has motivated growers to plant these promising new varieties and this type has become popular and plentiful enough to have established a stand-alone grape category on many supermarket shelves. At present, the most sought-after are Autumn Royal and Midnight Beauty. Autumn Royal is a US department of agriculture variety and is becoming a leader in this sub-category. As a late producer, it has the added benefit of extending the grape production season well into the autumn. Sun World varieties Sugrathirteen (Midnight Beauty) and Sugrasixteen (Sable Seedless) are also very popular and Sun World South Africa has controlled the release of plant material to retain exclusivity for these varieties.
Another exciting new variety from Sun World is Sugranineteen, or Scarlotta Seedless, a late pink/red seedless grape that has a naturally large, crunchy berry and develops a very sweet flavour. This variety ripens around two weeks later than Crimson Seedless and will thus complement this variety in the marketplace. Sugranineteen has an excellent storage and handling capacity and has very positive results in the US. This season marks the production of the first commercial volumes of this variety to be exported from South Africa.
During the past decade, there has also been a revolution in the standards for grape sizes, as many of these new seedless varieties have smaller berries than older varieties. “The feedback that we have received from discerning supermarket clients has stressed that eating quality is considered more important than berry size,” says Johan Jooste, licensing manager for Sun World International in South Africa. “These market specifications are now integrated in our production practices and we allow the natural ripening process to develop a more concentrated flavour in the berries.”
Early Sweet is a very exciting new white seedless variety bred by Israelis Shachar and Rafi Karniel of Grapa and distributed in Southern Africa by TopFruit (Pty) Ltd, a South African intellectual property management company. “This is proving to be a very successful new variety, as it is currently the earliest commercial variety in the world, ripening five to seven days earlier than Prime Seedless,” says Rob Meihuizen, chief executive of TopFruit. “At present, there are around 300 hectares of Early Sweet already planted, but during the next three to five years it is likely that this figure will increase to 800ha. These plantings are mostly in the earliest production regions in Namibia and along the Orange River, with some also planted in the Olifants River Valley at Trawal,” he adds. This variety is fast gaining favour with producers internationally and is also being produced in other arid regions in Africa such as Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia.
The Agriculture Research Council (ARC) of South Africa is proactively breeding new cultivars and has several promising new varieties that are undergoing evaluation. Predictions are that some of these will be available commercially in the next two to three years. These cultivars will then be marketed solely by Culdevco, the cultivar development company set up by the five grower-owned deciduous fruit producers’ associations in South Africa to commercialise and manage the intellectual property of deciduous fruit cultivars bred by the ARC.
And in the quest for new markets, South African shippers are working together to develop targets away from the core markets for South African grapes, namely the UK and northern Europe. One of the most important new markets is Asia and this is proving to be a good market for seedless grapes. The increased global demand for black seedless grapes has seen growers invest in substantial plantings of this type of grape in recent years. Production is thus set to increase rapidly over the next two to three years and Asia offers promising markets for this fruit, as the demand for varieties such as Midnight, Desert Seedless and Autumn Royal is likely to outstrip supply for the next few years.
BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY, BEAUTIFUL FRUIT
The 2009-10 season marks a significant step by South Africa’s table grape industry as it joins the co-ordinated pan-industry drive to promote the eating quality, variety and provenance of South African fruit.
The model for the campaign was trialled successfully earlier this year on a single product - South African plums - and is now being rolled out to include peaches, nectarines, apples, pears and grapes, as well as plums once again. One or more selected citrus products may also join the promotion.
This is South Africa’s first collaborative promotion since deregulation and it will see the country and its fruit supported for almost the full year.
Activity for South African table grapes effectively launches the new extended campaign, communicating the leading varieties of red, white and black grapes. With a focus on January, this includes nationwide shopper tasting events, in-pack booklets with information about South African grapes and a competition to win a holiday to the country. Packs of grapes will also carry promotional labels with a further competition to win a VIP package to next year’s World Cup, which takes place in South Africa during June and July. The campaign is also focusing on educating store staff with key facts about seasons and varieties of grapes and other South African fruit.
Advertising, advertorials and competitions will run in the media throughout the South African campaign, featuring campaign spokespeople Jasmine Harman from A Place in the Sun and Sophie Michell from Cook Yourself Thin. PR activity including fruit sampling for journalists, internet video features, recipes and trips out to South Africa are also taking place on all fruits.
A unique approach
The Beautiful Country, Beautiful Fruit campaign sets out to communicate the benefits of South African fruit to key audiences, notably the trade and the end consumer. Trade messages focus on the quality, variety and responsiveness of the South African fruit industry and its closeness to market relative to other competing sources in the southern hemisphere.
South Africa’s grape producers are well aware of their competitive advantages. At De Hoop farm in the Western Cape, De Villiers Graaff says: “South Africa has important advantages, including technical know-how and its robust cool chain, where the grapes go from harvest to packing to coldstorage within three hours. We also have a significant edge on freshness, as South African fruit takes one week less to get to the UK market.”
Black Economic Empowerment
One of South Africa’s significant unique selling points is the concept of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE).Since the Financial Sector Charter of 2004, this set out to encourage ownership and leadership among black and other previously disadvantaged groups, with targets set to “more accurately reflect the demographics of South Africa”, expressed throughout South Africa’s main industries by Black Empowerment Initiatives (BEIs). To qualify, these must demonstrate a minimum of 25 per cent black ownership of a company.
The grape industry leads horticulture on this front and has achieved 8.6 per cent black ownership of businesses from zero just five years ago. Many of South Africa’s largest grape farmers have launched BEIs in partnership with their long-standing farm workers.
However, producers see their involvement in these projects as a vital part of integrating their businesses in the ‘New South Africa’, more than an opportunity to differentiate their products further in the marketplace.
Charles Rossouw, who four years ago established a BEI near Groblersdal in the Limpopo province, north of Johannesburg, says: “There are no advantages in the market for us in running a BEI and no government financial incentive. For us, it’s about helping us develop and keep our core of talented people in the business.”
In the Western Cape, the fifth and sixth generation of the Naudé family has set up a BEI called Hoogland in 50:50 partnership with the Denau Trust, growing on the previously untapped plateau land across the Hex River Valley and formed to benefit workers who have been involved with the family for many years.
Pieter Naudé says: “The BEE projects give an opportunity to reward people who have worked in the grape business all their lives. It’s about making all South African people feel and be part of the new South Africa, looking after the soil and environment - and sharing in making a profit from doing all of this.”
However, at Sonvrucht Farming, a BEI at Augrabies in the Northern Cape, Anelda Aggenbacht believes that key customers are beginning to understand the importance of BEE projects and as such, they may give trade and consumer customers another important reason for buying South African. “Markets are getting more knowledge of BEE,” she says, “in the EU in particular.”
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