The mid-December rains in South Africa’s table grape regions will necessarily affect exports, particularly the ripe fruit that is heavily loaded with sugar and ready for harvest, Mark Greenberg, president of Capespan North America, tells FreshFruitportal.com. Inc., headquartered in Montreal. . But Greenberg says they “do not expect a drastic decline” in South African grape exports. The heaviest grape arrivals from South Africa run from January to the end of March.
The Northern Cape Province of South Africa, which occupies a large part of northwestern South Africa, is a major early producer of table grapes along with Namibia, the Atlantic coast country north of the Northern Cape. This early wine region was already shipping its early fruit when the rains arrived. The rain suspended the harvest and some fruits, close to maturity, will not be collected for export. “The rain will have a modest impact” on Northern Cape grape export volume which, due to other circumstances, was already expected to be down 10 percent this winter anyway.
At the same time, vineyards in the Western Cape, which occupies South West Africa’s wine-growing region, experienced unusual early summer rains in mid-December. The table grape harvest in the Western Cape had just started, when torrential rain fell over the course of a few hours. Earlier-ripening varieties will be most affected, but mid- and late-season grape varieties will be largely unaffected and will be satisfactory for export, Greenberg says. That the rain was intense but in a short time it mitigated the problems.
Greenberg said that the South African table grape is mainly exported to the UK, Europe and Canada. Smaller volumes are shipped to the United States due to the stringent USDA/APHIS phytosanitary requirements for entry into the United States.
