Namibia’s grape export sector has grown by 16.7% year-on-year (y-o-y), from N$7.7 million in the final quarter of 2023 to N$1.29 billion in the final quarter of 2024.
Grown mainly in the country’s Aussenkehr Valley on the Orange River, the above-expectations growth of Namibia’s grapes and dates production bodes well for intra-Africa trade, Minister of International Relations and Trade, Selma Ashipala-Musavyi, has said.
The sector’s anticipated growth trajectory, confirmed by the 23/24 y-o-y figures, underpins the country’s African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Implementation Strategy (2022-2027), highlighting grapes and dates as a headline export commodity.
Meeting with the business community of the larger Keetmanshoop area, Ashipala-Musavyi said the Kharas region’s fresh produce capacity was showing exceptional growth.
She said Namibia currently ranked 17th as an exporter of table grapes, moving 70% of its product from the Aussenkehr Valley to mainly three markets– the Netherlands, UK and Germany.
At current levels, about 33 000 metric tonnes are grown every year on the banks of the Orange as its makes it way past the Richtersveld in South Africa.
Ashipala-Musavyi said part of the export growth from southern fruit was the country’s enhanced logistics capability at the Port of Walvis Bay.
She encouraged grapes and dates growers in the region to explore potential AfCFTA markets as a matter of urgency.
