In its mid-season report, the South African Table Grape Industry (SATI) reported a total of 32.4 million 10-pound cartons shipped to date, with packing underway in all five production regions—Northern Provinces, the Orange River, Olifants River, Berg River, and the Hex River.
Despite some regional variation and below-target productivity levels at the Cape Town Container Terminal, SATI says the initial projection of 79.4 million cartons for the 2025/26 season remains unchanged. This means that, at the time of writing, total South African exports represent 48.6 percent of the forecast, with approximately two and a half months left in the harvest.
The top three exported varieties for Week 2, the industry organization reports, were Sweet Globe™, Sweet Celebration™, and Prime, which sailed predominantly for Europe, the UK, and North America.
Up to Week 2, the South African organization reports that nationwide, the difference between volumes inspected and exported (6.25 million cartons) can largely be accounted for with 3.48 million cartons in cold storage and 10.74 million cartons loaded on vessels sailing during Week 3.
By Week 1, Namibia had packed 9.7 million cartons for export, 13 percent more than the same time last year. Total exports through Week 2 totalled 9.05 million cartons, a four percent year-over-year increase.
Recently dethroned king of Southern Hemisphere table grape production, Chile, is going through a bit of a stall. The Latin American country shipped 3.38 million 10-pound cartons through Week 2, mainly to the US (71 percent), a 34 percent drop compared to last year.
The country has revised its crop estimate for the current season slightly upwards to 115.9 million cartons (63.6 million boxes), representing a 6.4 percent decline from the previous season.
Meanwhile, newly crowned Peru had exported 110 million 10-pound cartons by Week 2, approximately six percent more than the same period last year.
The Andean country’s table grape crop estimate for 2025/26 remains at 156 million cartons (86 million boxes), about four percent up compared with the previous season. Its main markets remain North America (51 percent), Europe (20 percent), Latin America (10 percent), and Mexico (8 percent).
*All images are referential.
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