Tuesday, 25 February 2014

South Africa crosses fingers for corrections in grape market

With later season varieties underway, the South African table grape industry could partially close in on the supply gap in Europe and the United Kingdom in coming weeks.

A series of bad weather events across the Southern Hemisphere have meant market shortages and high prices until now. However, Safpro exporter Craig Jensen says South Africa hopes to catch up and see some market price corrections over the coming weeks.

Although South Africa will be down on estimated production volume, exports could remain on par with last year if Red Seedless varieties perform well.

“White Seedless will stay under pressure. It’s one of the items that has been heavily hit by the weather. But for Red Seedless varieties like Sunred and Crimson especially, there’s a large volume that’s on the water already,” he told www.freshfruitportal.com

“In the coming two weeks, arrivals in the market will increase quite substantially. There will be a normalizing situation, certainly for Red Seedless.”

SAPEX CEO Kobus Louw said that although exports and inputs have been down to date, he also expects Red Seedless varieties to provide a stronger showing than the White Seedless seen to date.

“I think we are out of the problems now. The Red Globes, Black Seeded and Crimson coming in now are very good. There is no problem. The quality issues for the Western Cape are mostly behind us but the Western Cape is not a big crop. It is average to slightly lower, I would say,” Louw said. READ MORE

Source: www.freshfruitportal.com  #IFAMAFRICA

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