South African Grape Industry (SATI) statistics show exports to week three were down 27.7% year-on-year, but the amount of intakes was only down by about 10.1%.

The industry had taken in 23.38 million cartons of grapes at an equivalent of 4.5kg (9.9lbs) per carton, and had shipped off 17.86 million cartons.

More than half the total amount has gone to northern Europe, followed by the U.K. (30.75%), the Far East (8.1%) and the Middle East (5.94%) as the next biggest markets.

While exports to most markets were down considerably compared to last year, shipments to the Middle East were almost double.

From a production standpoint, SATI said packing had finished on most farms in the Northern Province region, with good weather conditions for the remaining Crimson Seedless Crop.

Packing was mostly completed in the Orange River region, which to date has accounted for around 63% of intakes, while the Olifants River region was packing Crimson Seedless, Autumn Royal and the first Red Globes of the season.

"The quality of these varieties, especially berry size and colour, is excellent. The packing tempo is high and weather conditions are excellent for packing," SATI said in a report.

SATI said the quality of grapes was also very good in Piketberg and Saron areas of the Berg River region, with 50% of the harvest packed so far. In the region's Paarl area the quality has been "good to excellent" with extremely favorable weather conditions for grape packing.

Packing of several grape varieties including Sugraone and Thompson Seedless is going "at full steam" in the Hex River Valley, with very good color development and satisfactory berry size.

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