“Water shortage Western Cape will have negative impact on availability of grapes”

The end of the European grape season is currently in sight. “It appears as if the European season will finish earlier than many expected,” says Corné van de Klundert of Origin Fruit Direct. By now, the importer has made a start with the overseas grape season with the first arrivals of Brazilian grapes, which will be supplemented with the first Red Globes from Peru later this week.

“The Brazilian grape season is looking positive both regarding volumes and quality. From Brazil, we receive varieties such as Sugraone, Sweet Globe and Sugar Crisp, but also new varieties like the Arra 15 more and more often. In coming weeks, volumes will continue increasing,” Corné says. “The Peruvian supply will be supplemented with red and white seedless grapes in coming weeks. Supply from the north of Peru in particular is considerably lower, as a consequence of flooding earlier this year. It’ll be tense to see how this continues developing, because volumes aren’t looking great at the moment.”

“We’re currently trying to keep price levels for punnets around 17/17.50 euro, and I expect that when the European season has finished, prices could perhaps rise a bit. We predict a very decent grape market for November and December. For the early part of the season from Orange River and Namibia, harvest and quality are looking well for now, although anything might happen,” Corné continues.

For the final part of the season, expectations are much poorer. “The water shortage in Western Cape will have a significantly negative impact on the availability of grapes. Besides, sizing will also not be adequate in many cases,” Corné expects. He explains the weather extremes are due to the global El Niño effect, but according to him, it’s impossible to indicate whether this situation is becoming structural. “In the north of Chile, for example, we had a period of drought four years ago, and growers even went bankrupt because of that, but the cultivation has completely recovered in the following years.”

“In the past ten days a lot of rain fell in Nashik, India. It’s expected that this rain will mostly affect the first harvest, which will arrive in Europe early in February. In total, however, this won’t have much impact on larger volumes,” Corné concludes.

For more information:
Corne van de Klundert
Origin Fruit Direct
Tel: +31 (0)88 244 93 08
corne@originfruitdirect.nl
www.originfruitdirect.nl