South African Vine Fruit; Thompson's & Currants

The crop in Vredendal will be severely affected by drought as some producers are running out of water before harvest time.

This is really unfortunate as the crop would have been better than last year if water supply was not a limiting factor.

The currants crop may be down by 25-40% vs last year and the Thompsons in that region down by  20-30% vs last year.

Producers are starting to harvest and they are using the last available water to irrigate the vineyards producing the highest yields.

Final crop numbers will be available within the next 6 weeks.