South Africa's Orange River region experienced extensive frost damage last weekend, with affected area stretching over 200km from Augrabies in the west to Groblershoop in the east.
“The potential overall losses from the Orange River region are estimated at 15 per cent, or 800 hectares”, said Piet du Plessis, chairman of ORPA (Orange River Producer Alliance). This equates to volume losses of between 2.5 million and three million cartons from the Orange River region.
The extent of damage is highly variable, depending on the location of the vineyards, with the worst damage in low-lying areas adjacent to the Orange River. One of the worst-affected regions was at Kanoneiland near Upington and some farmers in this area have lost up to 80 per cent of their harvest. The worst affected varieties are Superior Seedless and Thompson Seedless, some of the earliest varieties from the region.
During the same week frosts have hit Chilean fruit production regions and cause varying damages for different crops. Frost had affected grapes and blueberries in the IV (Coquimbo) region by five to 20 per cent. This is the direct southern hemisphere competition for South African early grape production.
