"Prices and demand were very good in the UK this season"

With just two weeks of export left in the South African grape season final export figures are expected to be down on last year. This due to the extreme heat before and during part of the season which cause the sizes to be smaller than average, there was also a bit of damage done by heavy rain during harvesting in some regions.

Looking at the figures so far it appears that exports are slightly up on last year but the season is running early which skews the numbers a bit. The final export estimate is 57.1 million trays compared to last year's 57.4 million. The initial estimate for the 2015-16 season was 61.3 - 63.2 million trays, this estimate was then adjusted three times early in the season as the effect of the heat wave became apparent.

Looking at the individual markets only the exports to the EU and UK had any significant changes from last year. According to Willem Bestbier, CEO of SATGI, this was due to market circumstances.

"Prices and demand were very good in the UK this season and the exchange rate with the Pound was slightly better that with the Euro. We also have some very good programs in place with the retailers in the UK."