The favourable growing conditions, which boosted the 2002/3 South African grape season, have continued as growers look forward to more success in the forthcoming months.
Good weather last season boosted the national grape harvest to a record 370,000 tonnes, an increase of 20,000t on the 2001/2 season. Further growth is forecast as a result of the development of new production areas, a streamlining of operations and the introduction of stringent quality assurance practices and procedures, which have already been implemented by many growers.
Expansion came last year, in spite of hail damage to crops in the Orange River region, cold weather in the Western Cape and stiff South American competition. So optimism is even higher for this season.
Johan van Niekerk, director of Paarl exporter Fruits Unlimited, believes there is still much to be improved upon from last season. “Last season was a disaster as far as berry size was concerned. More than 50 per cent of Thompson were below 17mm berry size. Small berries have a shorter shelf life than bigger ones. We also had a lot more rain, which led to outbreaks of fungal disease and poorer quality,” he says.
The season was unaffected overall though and Van Niekerk believes that this season will be even better. He says: “This season all Thompson is 17mm plus, with almost 50 per cent of the grape reaching extra-large size.”
Sunpride managing director Roy Fine is also confident. “The quality we have seen so far this year is good. The berry sizes are ideal and the quality of some of the Flame is the best we've ever seen,” he says.
Johan Burnett, chairman of the Orange River Produce Alliance, agrees with Fine. He says: “Not only is the berry size good but the tasting quality is excellent. In the Orange River area the Thompson Seedless is very late, but the Flame and Superior are both available in large quantities.
Martin Dunnett, procurement director at Capespan, has recently returned from South Africa and was pleased with what he saw. He says: “There is plenty of fruit on the vines and we will have reasonable availability in the pre-Christmas period.”
Volumes are running marginally late at the start of the season, so will not be as high as growers would like in the important pre-Christmas period. Fine says: “With the delay in the season start the volumes sent in the pre-Christmas period will be slightly down. A lot of the grapes, which are normally destined for the UK are likely to end up in mainland Europe.”
Burnett agrees that the late start to the season means that pre-Christmas sendings are likely to be lower than normal, and this brings an additional worry. He says: “The late start causes headaches for the growers and matched with the strong Rand this increases concerns.”
The late start also means that some growers are looking to air freight some fruit in. Van Niekerk says: “As we cannot reach the market with some of the fruit before Christmas with sea freight, some growers are considering air freight but this does increase costs.”
He also feels that certain grapes will be producing the best quality this season for some time. He says: “Sugraone, Regal, Thompson Seedless, Sunred Seedless and Crimson Seedless are likely to have good seasons.”
Fine is equally pleased with some of his varieties this season. “Crimson is looking particularly good on our farm,” he says. “Additional varieties that are standing out are Superior and Prime.”
Dunnett believes that the late start to the season does have its advantages. He says: “The late start does give the fruit good sugar quality and this is important, in what is a crucial season for South Africa. Due to the poor performance in Greece and Brazil it is necessary for South Africa to get a good start to boost the market again.”
Due to the delay in pre-Christmas sendings Burnett believes that there will not be enough Thompson Seedless to satisfy the demands of UK customers. He says: “We do not foresee this causing too many problems as we are confident that the Superior Seedless and Prime Seedless will be able to bridge the gap. We feel that the Prime variety has a great deal of potential to grow within the UK market, and we hope this could fill the Thompson gap admirably.
“It will be Christmas week before the volumes of Thompson pick up and it will be around two to three weeks into next year before large volumes start making their way to the UK. However it is likely that volumes will be available until mid-March.”
Van Niekerk feels that growing conditions have been better than last season. He says: “Disease-wise it has been a very dry and healthy season, with almost no occurrence of any fungal diseases or insect plagues. It has also been quite hot over the last month and an almost rainless season, so weather conditions have been at their optimum. With such excellent berry sizes, volumes are likely to be up but not by any more than 10 per cent.”
Dunnett also believes that South Africa has a big part to play in the growth of red seedless grapes in the UK. He says: “Demand is rising in the UK. It's important that consumers are educated, as many still believe that red grapes are seeded. We run in-store tastings to increase awareness, but I feel the important factor is to get to year-round availability. The success of Red Crimson is improving the situation.”
Van Niekerk adds that the UK is much stronger than last year. He says: “The UK market is much hotter than this time last year and is performing much better than any other market around the globe at present. It is also paying in Sterling which is much stronger to the Rand than the Dollar, which is used in most other markets besides the EU.”
Fine believes that, domestically, the changing strength of the Rand is a big issue for producers. He says: “When farmers incurred their costs at the start of the season ñ buying pesticides for their plants etc, the Rand was very weak, so their costs suffered. Now the Rand has gone to the other extreme and is high and they are not receiving as much for their produce, so it's a double whammy. Better selling prices would improve the situation but at the moment it is a big worry for growers.”
Kappa QuaMa International specialises in modified atmosphere packaging and supplies the South African grape industry from the end of November to March. Dirk Garos, international business manager at the company, explains: “The packaging intends to reduce oxygen levels within the carton and increase Co2 levels in the box, which will maintain the quality.”
The concept for the packaging used was introduced three years ago and success has grown substantially over this period. The system has additional advantages. “The packaging means no post-harvest chemicals are required, the grapes stay fresh and the stems do not dehydrate.”
This year the company will produce 500,000 cartons. The South African market is of crucial importance to the business along with the Egyptian, Spanish, Italian and Greek markets.
Garos says that the company is looking to develop further but there is plenty to learn. He says: “We have a team of dedicated specialists with in-depth market knowledge, but we realise we are on a steep learning curve. We are looking to walk before we can run. The grape market is huge with over 40 million cartons produced for it and we are just a tiny percentage of that. The boxes we provide are 4.5 kilo sized, and at the end of January we will be introducing our nine-kilo sized box and the 10x500gram box.”
Capespan has been busy working with its growers to increase their awareness of the importance of the Tesco's Nature's Choice programme. Two of its growers have received high praise this week. Kobus Hartman, environmental manager at Capespan in South Africa, explains: “We have assisted in preparing our growers for the accreditation standards, which they need to meet. We take them through the Integrated Crop Management System (ICMS) to prepare them for the independent audit.
“RK Oosthuizen received six certificates meeting the gold standard requirements, one for each of its farms. This is the highest standard, which can be awarded.”
A second farmer, JB Lazarus, is a relative newcomer to the industry. He was a livestock farmer until approximately seven years ago. Capespan also took them through the ICMS programme and Lazarus underwent an audit last week. Hartman says: “Although he is waiting for certification the auditor told him that he had achieved 100 per cent in both EurepGAP and Nature's Choice standards.”
Assurance schemes are important to Capespan. “It is important that our growers conform to and meet the standards set by our suppliers,” he says. “We are aiming for 100 per cent accreditation of all our growers, at the moment this figure is around 80 per cent.”
Hartman believes that the Nature's Choice scheme not only makes good business sense but also makes good production sense for the South African grape growers. He says: “There is less damage to the land, pesticide use is controlled better and it allows for international harmonisation. If anyone were to visit a Nature's Choice standard farm whether in Egypt, the UK or South Africa the standards would be the same. I believe these farms and our grapes have a bright future.”
