The first shipment of South African Prime grapes is already on the water, but importers are warning that volumes are not coming forward as soon as expected.
“All the signals were good for an early start, but there has been a delay in sugar development which has held up the harvest,” said Neil Denny of importer Richard Hochfeld. “We thought it was going to be an early start, but if anything we are now three to seven days later than normal.”
Untimely rains have not helped and more is forecast. “This is likely to cause disruption to harvesting,” warned Denny. “The forecast is for a 30 per cent chance of rain in the short-term in the Northern Transvaal and 50 per cent in the Orange River. And although temperatures were warm at the beginning of the week, they have cooled a bit which may cause further delays.”
The first vessel departed South Africa as scheduled on November 8, but there is a lot less fruit on it than originally planned. Since then two more vessels have also set sail with more fruit.
Senders are still forecasting volume arrivals from December 15 onwards, but a tight supply situation at the beginning of the season may mean fruit will be less staggered than hoped and the market may become over crowded during the crucial Christmas-New Year period.
Meanwhile, Brazil has suffered with untimely rainfall in its early marketing window and some estimates wipe 40 per cent off crop predictions for the season.
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