The 2025/26 South African table grape season is beginning under favourable conditions, with the industry expecting to pack nearly 80mn cartons while benefiting from significant infrastructure improvements at Cape Town Container Terminal
The new South African table grape season is off to a promising start, with conditions across all five production regions indicating a normal campaign.
South Africa is expected to pack nearly 80mn 4.5 kg cartons this year.
In Namibia, growers will also start packing this week, and the industry expects a total export crop of just more than 10mn cartons.
“The early signs are encouraging,” said Sati chief executive Mecia Petersen.
“Growing conditions have been favourable in the months leading up to the export season, and at this stage we expect the 2025/26 harvest to deliver good fruit quality and sufficient volumes to meet demand in our export markets.”
Sati is positive that recent improvements at the Cape Town Container Terminal (CTCT) will continue to support improvements in port performance during the peak export period.
Over the past year, Transnet has invested in new equipment at CTCT as part of its turnaround strategy to improve efficiency at the country’s ports.
It is expected that by the end of November, 18 new rubber-tyred gantry cranes will be deployed at CTCT, which will be supplemented by existing equipment.
The new equipment and other initiatives, driven by improved Transnet-private sector collaborations, aim to enhance productivity and streamline operations at the terminal.
Improved logistics is certainly good news for South African table grape exporters, because the container terminal in Cape Town is still the industry’s preferred export port.
South Africa’s minister of transport, Barbara Creesy, visited the port last week to review the improvements made over the past year, and afterwards indicated her satisfaction with progress.
Exporters from Namibia will use both Cape Town and Walvis Bay for their shipments this year.
Direct shipments of containers from Walvis Bay is expected to rise to 2,000 containers this year, with about 1,700 coming from Namibia’s Grape Valley, Aussenkehr.
Industry sources said the service provided by MSC allows Namibian exporters the opportunity to land their grapes within 14 days in European ports.
It also facilitates direct shipments to the Middle East and Far East.
