The South African Tablegrape Industry (SATI) has appointed Roger Manning to head up its strategy on European communications and promotional efforts.
Manning has extensive experience working with exporters world-wide, having spent five years as chief executive of the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association - Europe. He was also the face of Jaffa UK through the 1990s and worked with the Washington Apple Commission.
Limited volumes of South African grape will be exported from this week onwards, with the first volume due to arrive in the UK around November 20. The forecast for the 2005-06 season volume-wise is being put between 47 million and 52 million cartons by SATI. First fruit was packed in the Northern Province in week 42 - around 10 days earlier than last season. The Orange River is projecting an earlier start by three to five days, year-on-year.
SATI forecasts yields of 3-3.5m cartons in Northern Province, 14-15.5m in Northern Cape, 13-14m cartons in Berg River and 17-19m cartons in the Hex Valley. “I think in the past we have sent out the wrong messages with our crop estimates,” said SATI ceo Elaine Alexander. “There have already been unhelpful reports of a bumper crop this year, but what we have is a fairly normal volume of grape, after last season was adversely affected by drought. Anything more precise than these official figures relies heavily on guesswork at this stage.”
