Challenging times for SA’s table grape industry

The South African table grape industry has experienced a “challenging and rough” season, according to South African Table Grape Industry (SATI) spokesperson Clayton Swart.

He was speaking as a panel member during a monthly webinar hosted by the Produce Marketing Association’s Southern Africa chapter in conjunction with Beanstalk and hosted by Max McGillivray.

The webinar examined the efforts made by the South African table grape industry to adapt to changing market demands.

Other panellists included Heidi de Villiers, commercial manager for table grapes, Africa and Middle East, at International Fruit Genetics; Kandas Cloete, an agricultural economist at the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy; and Charl du Bois, commercial executive at Capespan.

During his presentation, Swart said various production regions had experienced untimely rain, and wind and fog delays had affected the loading tempo of table grapes at Cape Town harbour.

He added that the situation had been exacerbated by container shortages at the harbour as well as COVID-19 restrictions.

However, despite a challenging 2020/2021 season, SATI estimated that a figure of 70 million 4,5kg-cartons might be reached for the first time in its history.

De Villiers said the area planted to table grapes in South Africa had increased from about 13 000ha 10 years ago to more than 21 000ha, with a particularly large increase from 2014 to 2018.

She also noted that there had been an increase in red seedless varieties from 29% of total varieties in 2011 to 40% in 2020. White seedless varieties had dropped from 33% to 27% of total varieties during the same period.

During the same period a very significant decrease in seeded varieties from 24% to 3% was also evident.

De Villiers said the changes could be attributed to consumer preferences and a demand for a better eating experience.

According to Cloete, exports accounted for

89% of the volume and 94% of the value of South Africa’s table grape trade.

She also highlighted the role that the industry could play in growing the rural economy and in job creation, saying that one permanent job was created for every 3,7ha under production.

Du Bois added that the only crop that employed more farmworkers per hectare than table grapes was berries; however, this sector was much smaller. “We estimate that every year, the table grape industry adds 3% new jobs,” he said.