Limpopo has virtually finished with their grape harvest and the Orange River is meant to be packing the last volumes. The Orange River received up to 100mm of rain during last week, which given the drought in South Africa will have been very welcome, but also means that whatever was not picked will probably not be exported. The Western Cape has been very hot and dry for some time, although there was some rain over the weekend with the Hex River receiving up to 30 mm.
Early official estimates of grape volumes from South Africa were expected to be at record levels (63 Million cartons) mainly due to the new plantings, but after months of very hot and dry weather the estimates have been revised downwards three time and the crop is now anticipated to be smaller than last year. The latest estimate is for 56-58 million cartons, compared to last year's 59 million actually exported.
"The issue at the moment is that the Orange River was lighter on white seedless and the regions which are still packing, Olifants, Hex and Berg River areas are also anticipated to be light on white grapes," explained du Bois. "Also the heat at the moment is bringing everything on earlier than normal by about two weeks and a lot of varieties are ripening at the same time."
The markets have been relatively empty because overall volumes were not as big as expected and a lot of fruit was put into promotions to keep sales volumes high. "Going forward South Africa is going to finish early with white seedless and with less fruit so it will be difficult for exporters and importers to continue with programmes as they normally would. It will depend on what comes out of India it will get quite interesting in the next weeks . Our own farms have enough water, and we expect to finish the season with about 1.6 Million 4.5 kg equivalent cartons from our own production.” said du Bois.
"The worry is that is has been incredibly hot and dry for most of the table grape season, and coupled with the rain this past week some of the fruit in late areas is bound to be packed in smaller volumes. In the Western Cape some farms also only have water for the next two to three weeks. It does vary from grower to grower however, some have dams with water but others are relying on the irrigation schemes which are short of water. How you get through the season therefore depends a lot on where you are."
"This is the worst drought in living memory in South Africa and many cash crops have failed," explained du Bois. "The interior area which grows most of the maize, the staple food of much of the population and a product which also finds its way into animal feed, has been so dry that to date they have only planted 3% of what would normally be planted. So there will be a huge deficit and South Africa will be reliant on imports, which with the weak Rand will be beyond the means of many poorer people. It has started to rain in the interior in the last week so there is some maize being planted now but as it is very late for summer rainfall it will most likely only be for silage, while soya beans or other shorter cycle crops are also being planted to try and salvage something. It is still unclear what exactly the full impact of the drought will be for South Africa," concludes du Bois.
For more information:
Charl du BoisAfrifresh Group
Tel: +27(0)21-763 7600
+27(0)21-763 7600Email: Charl@afrifresh.co.za
www.afrifresh.co.za