The South African table grape industry has concluded the 2025/26 season with a steady performance despite a challenging operating environment, reflecting continued stability across production and export activities.
According to Mecia Petersen, chief executive officer of the South African Table Grape Industry (SATI), the season demonstrated the industry’s ability to adapt and remain competitive under pressure.
“While it is worth noting that we achieved steady export volumes, the 2025/26 table grape season was highly challenging, with growers facing significant commercial pressure amid weather- related disruptions and logistics delays,” said Petersen.
Quality, consistency drive good season
Nationally, total table grape plantings decreased marginally by 0.4% to 19 404 hectares, continuing a decade-long trend towards stabilisation.
Despite the slight decline in planted area, the industry recorded its largest harvest to date. Improved yields from newer, higher-yielding cultivars contributed to this outcome.
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Final figures for the season show that 81.25 million cartons (4.5 kg cartons) were inspected for export, representing a 3% increase year-on-year, while total exports reached 78.3 million cartons, marginally up from the previous season. These volumes remained within the upper limit of the initial crop estimate.
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“The logistics challenges experienced this season remain a key concern. We acknowledge that work is underway across the Transnet Port Terminals network, and these issues must be addressed to ensure consistent and improved performance in future seasons,” she said.
According to SATI, the proportion of exports shipped through the Port of Cape Town declined from 91% in the previous season to 76%. Meanwhile, volumes shipped through Eastern Cape ports increased from 6% of total exports in 2024/25 to 21% this year. This enabled continued market supply, but it came at a high additional cost to both exporters and producers.
From a market perspective, the global environment remains highly competitive, particularly in key markets such as Europe and the UK, which together accounted for 83% of South Africa’s table grape exports in the 2025/26 season.
“The global export market landscape is becoming increasingly complex. This reinforces the need for us to remain focused on quality, consistency, and reliability, which are the hallmarks of the South African industry,” Petersen said.
New opportunities in Asia open up
SATI stated that the industry will remain focused on maintaining its position in key markets while exploring new opportunities. These include emerging markets in Asia, as well as improved access to China following the recent announcement of a temporary zero-tariff preference scheme for some African countries, including South Africa.
South Africa shipped table grapes to the Philippines for the first time this year after gaining access to the market in 2025. In February 2026, the export protocol enabling official market access for South African table grapes to the Republic of Korea was concluded and published, paving the way for the first consignment to be sent in 2027, once the remaining administrative and oversight processes have been finalised.
Looking ahead, the industry remains committed to investing in innovation and collaborating with private and public-sector stakeholders to address structural challenges, particularly in logistics.
“The 2025/26 season proved our industry’s resilience under challenging conditions. Building on this foundation will be critical as we position ourselves to remain a preferred global supplier of quality table grapes,” Petersen said.
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