After the first harvest of the Namibian and South African grapes was slow to start, European importers now have new challenges to deal with. "The volumes have started to flow, but now multiple boats have been delayed, partially due to COVID infections. This is causing tight availability on the grape market at the moment," says Corne van de Klundert of Origin Fruit Direct from Rotterdam.
"So the volumes are all packaged and shipped, but no one knows exactly when the grapes will come in. This is causing the necessary stress on the market. Add to this that it has been raining heavily in Orange River over the last ten days. It will soon become clear how big this damage is, but there will definitely be damage," says Corne. "Other than this we haven't had any quality issues this overseas season. It's good to see the new varieties that are being introduced are getting good results, both in the area of quality and taste experience."
A slow start is also expected to the Indian season. "The monsoon rains lasted for a long time, which meant growers caught the season later. In addition to this the first harvest planned in Nashik was rained on both this week and last week. This won't have a major effect on the rest of the season, but the first harvest will be delayed. As well as this, the Indian exporters are reluctant to send large numbers to Europe, meaning the real volumes won't be here until week 8-9," concludes Corne.
For more information:
Origin Fruit Direct 
Corné van de Klundert
+31-643 241 489
corne@originfruitdirect.nl