According to the South African Table Grape Industry (SATI), the crop estimate for the 2018/2019 season remained unchanged since conditions had not changed significantly enough to issue a second crop estimate.
The South African table grape season kicked off in the Northern Production regions, mainly Limpopo, and although the harvest in the earliest maturing parts of the region started slightly late this season, packing was well underway.
According to SATI, the region had already harvested half of the expected crop at the time of writing this article, and producers remained optimistic that they would reach the crop estimate of between 6,7 million and 7,5 million cartons.
In the Orange River region the harvest was beginning to return to normal weekly pack volumes at the time of writing this article, as favourable weather conditions remained. The area expected crop volumes to be between 18,5 million and 20,5 million cartons.
In the Olifants River region, the smallest of the production regions, packing started recently. According to SATI, this region was affected the most by last year’s drought and heatwave conditions.
However, it was expected that the prospects for a return to a normal crop were much better since the area received good winter rain, with dams reaching full capacity. The estimated crop for the region was between 3,5 million and 4,1 million cartons.
The two later maturing regions, the Berg River and Hex River Valley areas, had not yet started harvesting at the time of writing this article.
