Grape Alliance: Focus on the stability of European and UK markets

Even though the colouring of Crimson Seedless is a bit slow, the season is progressing as normally, with packing until week 16 in the Hex River Valley, says Niel Fyfer of Grape Alliance Marketing. At the tail-end of the season, harvesting is predominantly focused on Crimson.

The need for a rigorous response to the drought has proved to be an opportunity for rejuvenation for the company. The company made the call in September on which vineyards to prioritise in terms of water allocation, and those vineyards, like seeded varieties or varieties like Autumn Royal, were cut down and replaced, many with the ARRA varieties. In the Hex River Valley, Grape Alliance farms are fed by large dams filled up during winter. As calculated, they’ve been able to stretch their water reserves through until the end of the season.

“Volume is a bit down in the Hex and on berry size we see more regular than during other seasons. Grapes that are larger than regular but not on the supermarket spec large we’re able to send to other markets that will take it.”

Grape Alliance is focusing on its European and UK clients this season, sending fewer volumes to the Far East than last year. South African volumes sent to the Far East are about 60% of the volumes sent last year, which was almost double the previous season. There was a feeling last year that the Far East market was flooded with grapes and given the pole position of cherries in particularly China, it made sense in a year with reduced volumes to focus on the stability and constancy of traditional markets.

The European and UK markets are on a more even keel than last year with greater stability. The bulk of Grape Alliance business is with supermarkets, which is part of a trend of more and efficient supermarket programming in Europe which, combined with lower volumes, has resulted in a better tail-end to the season in Europe for South African grapes than last year.

By the end of week 11, just over half of South Africa’s total volume of the season (26.5 million x 4.5kg cartons) had been sent to Europe. By week 10 the total intake of grapes from all grape-producing regions had already exceeded the lower end of the South African Table Grape Industry’s estimate of 56.2 million x 4.5kg cartons.

For more information:

Niel Fyfer

Tel: +27 23 354 8152

Email: niel@grapealliance.co.za