Following a big fall in exports early in the year, South Africa's table grape shipments have recovered to be almost at the same level they were last year, although cumulative intakes are still significantly down.

Figures released by the South African Table Grape Industry (SATI) show exports rose 37% year-on-year in the month to week 6, which stood at more than 18.8 million cartons.

The uptick means the South African grape sector is close to 200,000 cartons shy  of its cumulative export figure to week 6 during the 2012-13 season. Intakes however are down by 16%.

The highest rebound in the last month has been for U.K.-bound shipments, rising 65%, followed by Northern Europe (40%) and the Middle East (35%).

While South East Asia was the only key regional market to record a rise in exports during the first fortnight of 2014, exports to the destination fell by a quarter during the recent period.

In terms of production, SATI said packing was finished in the Orange River region while the last production unit in the Northern Province as packing low volumes of Crimson Seedless grapes with expectations to finish during week 8.

The organization said the speed of packing was slowing in the Oliphants River region as the end of the season drew closer, while a wide variety of grapes and large volumes were still being packed in the Berg River and Hex River Valley regions.

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