The country’s table grape industry is ready to sign off on a good season. South Africa is expected to exceed the original table grape export forecast this season.
At the end of week 11, the volume of table grapes presented for export exceeded the original estimate by four per cent.
The latest information shows that the country is likely to export 78mn 4.5kg cartons this campaign, compared with the original forecast of 76.4mn cartons.
It has been an excellent packing season for most regions in the country, with the Orange River, Olifants River, Hex River and Berg River regions all exceeding their seasonal forecasts.
The only region currently packing is the Hex River, where growers expect to finish their harvest within 14 days.
These volumes are expected to be small and will not really affect the overall result of the season.
Up to week 11, 73.69mn cartons, also up 4 per cent compared with the same time last year, had been shipped to overseas markets.
By week 10, 77 per cent of volumes were exported to the EU and the UK and 10 per cent to North America, where volumes have grown significantly this season.
In the latest Sati update it was revealed that the port of Cape Town had considerably more problems with high winds during the second half of the season compared with last year.
“In February 2025, the Cape Town Container Terminal (CTCT) recorded 245 hours of wind delays for the month compared with 105 hours recorded in February 2024,” it stated.
Jacques Ferreira, Sati’s commercial affairs manager, said a retrospective analysis capturing the impact of wind delays at CTCT for weeks 6 to 10 indicated that roughly 500 fewer containers were exported during this period compared to the initial planned scenario.
“The analysis suggested that more volumes were shipped on conventional vessels than planned and that the average days to market increased by roughly seven days due to wind delays at CTCT,” he outlined.
It was previously reported that early lemon exports also experienced significant delay in Cape Town because of high winds.
