As the table grape season in South Africa comes to a close, the industry celebrates a new record campaign.
In a report issued at the beginning of July, the US Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) office in Pretoria reported a total volume of 385,000 metric tons for the 2025/26 season. However, these results are part of a bigger industry trend, sitting only one percent above the 381,000 metric tons reported at the end of the 2024/25 campaign.
Despite heavy rains and flooding in May that hit production regions in the Western Cape, the local FAS agency explained the rise in volume can be attributed to overall favorable weather conditions, controlled pest pressures, and the coming into full production of higher-yield cultivars.
The latter is also offsetting the shrinking of table grape planted area in South Africa. Acreage has been dropping systematically since the 2018/19 season, when the industry reported nearly 54,000 productive acres. Since then, that number has declined by 11 percent and now sits at nearly 48,000 acres.
While production was favored by the weather, adverse climatic conditions sharply increased the number of delay hours at the Port of Cape Town, severely affecting table grape exports.
Shipments of the fruit departing from the terminal dropped to 76 percent this season, down from 90 percent during the 2024/25 campaign. Weather disruptions forced the industry to divert exports through Eastern Cape ports, Durban, and Namibia, which increased costs and delays for producers.
Overall, table grape exports for the season remained unchanged at 352,400 metric tons, with shipments led by Crimson Seedless (12 percent), Sweet Globe (11 percent), Sweet Celebration (11 percent), AUTUMNCRISP (nine percent), and Prime (eight percent).
Export destinations suffered a considerable reshuffling this season. As US tariffs of 10 percent came into effect in April 2025, the South African table grape industry had to redirect a large share of its crop into the European market.
The Old World and the United Kingdom absorbed 86 percent of the country’s exports, a steep 76 percent year-over-year climb that crowned the region as the biggest destination for the South African fruit.
Meanwhile, exports into the United States plummeted, dropping 86 percent year-over-year.
This season also marked a new milestone for the sector: the opening of the Korean market for table grape exports. The protocol was signed in January of this year, and the first shipments are expected to take place during the 2026/27 season.
*All images are archival and courtesy of SATI.
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