A bunch of factors squeeze grape export market RAY SMUTS TALK OF the grapes of wrath! A desperately unhappy scenario to say the least; the stronger rand, oversupply on foreign markets, a devastating drought in the western part of the country and job losses have resulted in an official prognosis that foreign exchange earnings from table grapes exports will drop 30% to R1.4 billion for 2004/05. This is R600 000 down on the previous season. More unsettling news for the Western Cape wine industry is that the lingering drought is behind a smaller than originally projected grape harvest, 9% down rather than 4%. The anticipated harvest, which goes toward the making of a variety of products including brandy, juice, concentrate for non-alcoholic products and distilling wine, is now 915.1 million litres, 5.5% (53.7 million litres) lower than the original projection. The unnerving drought in the Western Cape, which could lead to severe water restrictions in the Cape Metropole and elsewhere, is behind the the earliest harvest in certain areas in the province’s history. But producers have also had to face unseasonal rain, wind and disease such as downy mildew, a destructive fungal disease which hit the Hex River Valley, accounting for a loss in production. Smaller harvests will come from areas like Worcester, Robertson, Malmesbury, Klein Karoo and Orange River. It would appear the Orange River area, responsible for more than one-third of table grape supplies, will be hardest hit, intelligence pointing to a decline by some 35% on the price of a 4.5kg carton. Graham Retief, chairman of the SA Table Grape Industry, says most table grape farmers have been producing at a net loss for the last two years. Retief, like Stewart Symington, CEO of the Fresh Produce Exporters’ Forum, agrees that many of the problems in the (fruit) industry started with deregulation eight years ago which led to fragmentation at both producer and exporter level and no joint strategy. As Symington puts it: “Everybody has been doing their own thing since 1997.”
