EU: Possible grape shortage in run up to Christmas

The South African grape season is running late this year and according to Andre Blommestien it will clash with the Namibian production which is also late. Normally the Namibian grapes are on the market before the South African. But there will only be a small volume available in November with a small increase into December, with real volumes arriving in January.

Andre says that their will only be a small volume of South African grapes available on the European market in December, he will not start packing until the last week in November. The big volumes of South African grapes will miss the Christmas period and may therefore cause a short supply in the run up to the holiday period.

"It is a bit early to say much about quality, but I expect volumes to be similar to last year. Volumes of South African grapes have been stable for the last 2-3 years and I don't expect that to change much in the future, although there are new vineyards being planted they are basically replacing old ones which are being removed."

As for the situation in the Hex River Valley, Andre says the workers were supposed to go back to work today but that does not seem to have happened. The situation does seem a bit more settled nonetheless. The affected area produces grapes late in the season, with packing starting in the new year, so Andre does not think what has taken place up to now will affect the grape export too much, but it still early days and anything can happen.

For more information:
Andre Blommestien
WP Fresh Distributors
Tel: +27 21 851 3788
Email: andre@wpfresh.co.za
www.wpfresh.co.za