"EU: "South African grapes till the end of April"

Although the South African season this year will definitely end earlier than other years, Exsa Europe still expect to receive grapes from South Africa till the end of April. "We will definitely continue with white seedless grapes for another three weeks, but we will extend the season for another number of weeks with black and red seedless grapes and with white grapes with seeds," Eddy Kreukniet says.

"At the moment there are quite a number of varieties in the grape assortment. More than enough black grapes with seeds are available. White and red seedless grapes are not available in large quantities," the producer adds. "Demand is quite good. And the big advantage is that all grapes are fresh at the moment, which has sometimes been quite different at the beginning of March. For weeks there has been hardly any stock and we receive fresh supplies weekly."

New varieties

From South Africa the first red seedless grapes of the new varieties Sweet Celebration and Jack Salute are for the first time commercially available this year and Eddy expects quite a lot from these. "In South Africa, Egypt and other production areas our growers are busy developing new varieties. It is our task to streamline these new initiatives, so that there will be a better connection to the season with these new varieties."

"The total volume of South African grapes will be quite a lot less this year. It is expected that South Africa in general will export 3.5 million boxes of grapes less. Quality problems in the grapes from the Orange River and the Hexriver Valley areas are the main cause of this."

India

This year Exsa also has a program with Indian grapes. "The first containers have already arrived, but quality-wise these were not of a standard to be sold under Exsa brand. From the middle of next week we will have these available." Exsa is one of the few European importers cooperating with Indian producers connected to a project from Bayer CropScience, which has developed a passport in the local language, which assists growers in producing in a sustainable way.

The Peruvian season has ended in the meantime. Chilean grapes are available, but Chile are sending less fruit to Europe all the time. "This is because of the good local market and the good demand from the United States, but also because of the fact

that there were quality problems with Chilean grapes last year. As a result grapes are not to going so far away," Eddy says. "As far as other varieties are concerned we are now waiting for Egyptian grapes and these will arrive a little earlier (week 20) on the market."

Interaction

When asked whether producers are regularly pushed by the retail to come up with new varieties or novelties, the importer answers: "That is an interaction, but it is finally the consumer, who decides whether he wants the grapes with or without seeds. In Europe there was a change to seedless grapes, but for instance on the Asian markets, grapes with seeds will be denied entrance. That also opens new markets again."

For more information:
Eddy Kreukniet
Exsa Europe
Tel: +31 88 735 0003
Cell:+31 620 25 78 11
Email: info@exsaeurope.com
www.exsaeurope.com