South African table grape exporters experienced a significant year-on-year reduction in shipments during the first two weeks of 2014, according to a recent industry report.

Statistics compiled by the South African Table Grape Industry (SATI) show the country exported 2.9 million cartons of the fruit during the fortnight, compared to 6.2 million cartons during the same period in 2013.

The bulk of the reduction came from lower shipments to South Africa's top two markets of Northern Europe and the U.K., with drops of 71% and 20% respectively.

Meanwhile, purchases in the Middle East were down 48% and exports to South East Asia were slightly up by 13.8%; these two markets accounted for 15% of the export total.

The fall was less marked however in table grape intakes, with a year-on-year drop of 24.5% to 5.4 million cartons, taking the cumulative season total to 17.36 million cartons.

More than two thirds of intakes have come from the Orange River region to date, while almost 60% of the fruit has gone to Northern Europe.

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