The market situation in the UK for red grapes remains extremely tight in the run up to Christmas, despite suppliers’ hopes that the position would improve this month.
Supplies of US Crimson are short and one supermarket is air-freighting supplies of Flame from South Africa for the Christmas market.
Volumes from South Africa are not as heavy as usual at this time of year and are being supplemented with fruit from Namibia.
The problem is further compounded by technical faults on vessels already Europe-bound and on the water.
Martin Dunnett, trading director at Capespan Ltd, believes the shortage will last for some weeks yet to come. “Fruit will continue to be short even through January, until Crimson from Orange River comes on stream,” he told FPJ.
On Wednesday, he was expecting five vessels to arrive in Europe over the course of the next week, carrying a lot of white fruit as well as some red. “There is just not enough red fruit in the market,” he said. Grape market demand is split 35:65 in favour of white fruit, but Dunnett estimates that supplies are running at a ratio of only about 20:80.
Meanwhile, Capespan is setting up Indian and Peruvian grape supplies for later in the season.
The company expects to source 200 containers of Indian fruit and 100 of Peruvian.
Volume from Peru will be double last year’s level and 70 containers will come into the UK and Europe. Flame, Sugraone, Red Globe and Crimson will be the principal varieties.
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