South African Raisins Market Update

It seems to be a year of rain!

The South African Raisins industry is working hard to counter the unusually heavy rains in the Northern Cape throughout Dec 20 and Jan 21; this is predicated to have an impact on the total export volumes of South African raisins this season.

The rainfall that spread over a 350km area along the Orange River Valley, has had a variance of between 80mm-200mm during the last two months and over the past 3-5 years, South Africa has received small volumes of rain during harvest time.

Ferdie Botha, CEO of Raisins South Africa, has assured of their efforts to reduce the impact the weather has had. Raisins South Africa is working closely with packers' technical staff and is currently engaged in frequent communication in order to mitigate the current circumstances, ensuring there are practices in place implemented at farm level. For example the selection of fruit harvested to ensure good quality, canopy management and constant monitoring of the situation. With all that being said we can expect a short crop this year.

As of 27 January the total crop estimate was between 70,000 to 75,000; this is a decrease of 15% compared to last years 85,000. South Africa was expecting to export 78,000 ton this year, the revised figure shows a drop of between 15-20% compared to the original forecast.

This unusually high volume of rainfall experienced along the Orange River has had a notable impact on Golden Raisins in particular; which represents 30% of South Africa's total crop. Growers are expecting damages of 50% on Golden Volumes.