For decades now South Africa’s Orange River region has been the main supplier of table grapes to the UK trade and consumers in the run up to Christmas. This year, however, it will be different as cold weather causes a slow start to the season.
Instead UK retailers will have to rely on what they can get from South Africa’s other early producing region, the northern regions of Mpumalanga and Limpopo, as well as from Namibia.
Growers in the Orange River have also adjusted their crop expectations after frost earlier in the season and now say they may only pack around 14 million cartons compared to last year’s 16m cartons. In the north of the country growers are confident that they will meet the pre-season estimate of 4.2m cartons, which is more than what they packed last year.
One leading grower in this region, HH Pieterse, says it has an excellent crop, but that most of its grapes will be destined for programmes in northern Europe, which again is not good news for UK retailers. However, exporters who traditionally have strong supplies to the UK and who source from this region say they will make the most of what could be a short market in the pre-Christmas season.
That leaves Namibia as the only alternative pre-Christmas supplier this season. Namibia is on the expansion trail following significant plantings during the past season. Capespan Namibia’s managing director Andre Vermaak says his company has recently managed to increase the vineyards’ table grape export volumes from 1.2m cartons per year to 1.6m cartons, despite replanting around 45ha each year.
In a new deal with Capespan Namibia, Capespan will help to finance an additional 114ha of grapes and water supply to its existing 360ha.
Another major player, Grape Alliance, which is also expanding in a partnership with South Africa’s top-fruit group, Dutoit International, says it is busy with an extensive replanting and vineyard development programme. There is speculation that in future years the Namibian grape crop can grow from around 4.7m cartons
to around 8m cartons, effectively doubling supply.
Petra Pieterse, marketing manager at the Groblersdal-based HN Pieterse Farming, says the company is already halfway through the new packing season. “We had excellent quality with the early Prime and Starlight Seedless, which allowed us to pack mixed punnets for close to three weeks.
“Some of these grapes have been offered to UK retailers and consumers, but our major programmes are focused on Scandinavia.”
Orange River Producer spokesman Piet du Plessis says grape growers along the Orange River are still counting the after-effects of the cold weather and frost they experienced earlier.
As a result there will be very few grapes from this region arriving in Europe in time for the pre-Christmas market. “We have already been packing full-steam in the lower end of the river. The areas around Augrabies can only start now and will miss the pre-Christmas market.”
