Although a smaller chunk of South Africas table grape exports had to be diverted away from Cape Town this season, bottlenecks remain a risk.
Thanks to favourable weather conditions, the table grape industry diverted 40 less of its total export volumes through the Eastern Cape ports of Port Elizabeth and Ngqura in the 2024-25 export season than in 2023-24.
Speaking at the organisations Table Talk industry event in Paarl, Mecia Petersen, CEO of the South African Table Grape Industry Sati, said that although the industry had only shipped 6 of its total exports via the Eastern Cape in the past season, compared to 10 in 2023-24, this did not mean the industry could depend solely on Cape Town.
Using the 2023-24 season as a baseline, the industrys freight modelling showed that with the 5.4 increase in exports this year, not having the Eastern Cape ports and Walvis Bay available would have caused the maximum inventory for the season to be 30 higher than the actual level, a 3 smaller profit margin per freight container than was attained during the season and a minimum loss of profit of R123 million for the industry.
Only 1 of South Africas export table grapes were shipped via Walvis Bay.
She said the modelled inventory spike would have been difficult for Cape Towns existing cold storage capacity to handle.
Do we need to use Walvis Bay and Port Elizabeth again? This is a difficult question to respond to with a yes or no, because it will be a commercial decision. But from a long-term sustainability perspective for exports, its important to keep PE and Walvis Bay as alternative ports, Petersen said.
Louw Pienaar, senior analyst with the Bureau for Food and Agriculture Policy, said the table grape industrys exposure to US President Donald Trumps 30 import tariffs was 2 of its total income in the Western Cape, 2.6 of every hectares export production was destined for the US market in the 2024-25 season.
However, he provided a historical overview of US import tariffs since 1891, which showed that every period of high import tariffs was followed by a sharp drop in tariffs. He said there was a possibility that a trade deal between the US and South African government could lead to the 30 tariff dropping significantly.
Charl du Bois, managing director at table grape producer and exporter Capespan, said the industry should follow the example of other export fruit commodities such as apples, pears and citrus to diversify its export markets.
Currently, 56 of table grape exports go to the European Union and 18 to the United Kingdom, while the other fruit industries have a much more even spread between traditional markets, the Middle East, Africa and Far East.
Du Bois said the industry had vested interests in the US market, which had been loyal for many decades, and he expected that, in some instances, some of the tariff costs would be carried by importers.
To maintain a foothold in the market, South African exporters could also not entirely abandon the market.