Bumper season as SAFE prepares to ship 2,3 million cartons of grapes

South African Fruit Exporters (SAFE) is preparing to export more than 2.3 million cartons of table grapes in the new season, including a number of new varieties.

“We have been working hard on all our farms to offer the best on South African produce to our European Markets,” said SAFE marketing and sales manager, Wibo van den Ende, this week.

“Apart from quality and consistency of product, the buyers are very focused on certification such as Globalgap, Grasp, Siza and Fairtrade – about which I was more than happy to reassure them as far as select SAFE farms are concerned.

During his visit to Fruit Attraction in Madrid Spain in October, van den Ende promoted seamless process from planting to harvesting, packing and efficient delivery in customer-centric packaging as strong selling points for SAFE.

Current Estimates are that SAFE will consign 2 350.000 cartons from six table grape farms in the Northern Cape and Western Cape provinces of South Africa. Exports will start in week 46 and finish in week 14 2017. The exports include an estimated 838 000 cartons for the Fairtrade market.

Van den Ende says SAFE has established 9 new varieties of table grapes. Among those to be exported in the coming season is the red seedless Jack Salute, Tawny and Magenta, which have become one of SAFE’s most sought-after varieties with its large berries and striking magenta-pink colour. Other new varieties scheduled for export are the seedless Sweet Celebration and Allison.

SAFE’s six table grape farms produce 31 varieties of white, red and black seedless and seeded fruit on a little over 800 hectares, with 40% of the cultivated area under nets and 27% planted with vines younger than three years. 89% of the crop is consisting of seedless varieties.

SAFE is able to pack directly into client-centric packaging, branding and labelling. Its products and practices are certified by the Global Partnership for Good Agricultural Practice (GLOBALG.A.P and Grasp), the Sustainability Initiative of South Africa (SIZA) as well as Fairtrade.

In 2017 SAFE will implement B.R.C Global Standards.

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