SA table grapes implementing multiple sustainable initiatives

63.5 million cartons (4.5kg equivalent) of table grapes were exported by South Africa in the 2022/2023 season.
Mon 18/09/2023 by Pierre Escodo
SATI
South African growers have long been widely involved with the government standard called “The Sustainability Initiative of South Africa” or SIZA to align with the best global farm environment and social practices. The SIZA programme is owned and developed in South Africa as based on free membership and is a non-profit organisation. It is designed to assist growers with ethical labour compliance and environmental assurance whilst minimising costs.
Asia the priority target

South Africa’s largest export markets remain the EU (55%), and the UK (20%) confirming SA’s status as a preferred supplier to its key export markets. These are followed by the Middle East (7%), Canada (5%) and South-East Asia (5%), which all displayed an increase in exports between the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 seasons.

In addition to servicing its traditional markets in Europe and Middle East, the South African Table Grapes Industry (SATI) has prioritised increasing SA’s market share in Eastern markets, which includes China and South-East Asian countries. Over the last three years, the China market development campaign conducted by SATI has been promoting SA’s table grapes via Chinese trade and retail channels, with positive results and feedback received in the 2022/2023 season. Future objectives include expanding similar efforts to additional Eastern countries, with opportunities in Vietnam currently being explored. South African authorities are currently in the last stages of applying for market access to the Philippines and look forward to the potential opportunities this holds for the SA table grape industry.

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