The South African Table Grape Industry (Sati) expects the 2017/18 harvest to be in line with the five-year average crop size of 57.9 million cartons despite the persistent drought in the Western Cape.
“Although certain producers and areas most affected by the drought are likely to be significantly impacted, the effect at a national level is less pronounced,” said an AgriSA spokesperson.
This could be attributed to the fact that the industry is climatically diverse as well as the increased hectares in production – and a continuing shift to higher-yielding new-generation varieties of table grapes, according to Sati.
“South African producers will still deliver excellent quality to our export markets during the coming season,” added Sati CEO, Willem Bestbier.
Sati noted that it was in close contact with the Western Cape provincial government as the table grape industry was vulnerable to its reliance on irrigation and highlighted that a detailed crop estimate for the 2017/18 harvest – usually released end October – would be released in early November due to the drought conditions.
