Tholen - The past couple of weeks, the export of grapes in South Africa has been confronted with delays due to unpositive weather conditions earlier this season. In the past weeks only a relatively small volume could be exported, but larger availability is expected to start next week. "There was a shortage in grapes in the past couple of weeks. Starting next week, more grapes will be exported and I expect to receive more grapes within a few weeks," Michel de Groot of Seven Seas Europe, the European sales office of Seven Seas in The Netherlands, says.

The increasing supply from South Africa in combination with the start of the Chilean season creates a decrease in the grape prices. "The first grapes from Chile will arrive in Europe within a few weeks and normally this creates a decrease in the prices. Nevertheless, the prices are still very high compared to last year. Until this moment, it has been a very succesful season," Michel de Groot says.

The shortage on the grape market creates a large diversity in the export. "All important importing countries are demanding grapes. This situation creates diversity and possibilities," Michel de Groot says. At the moment, Seven Seas Europe sells the major part of their grapes to Scandinavian countries. The South African division also exports lots of grapes directly to Russia.

Seven Seas started as a growing company in South Africa in 2001 and it exported its own products. After some time, the company also started to export other growers’ products. Seven Seas exports products around the globe, but Russia was and still is the most important market. Therefore, it was decided to start up a sales office in Russia four years ago. Because of the success of the sales office in Russia, another one was opened in the Netherlands in 2006 and one in Argentina in October of last year.

More than half of the import volume of Seven Seas Europe comes from citrus. Furthermore, 15% of the imported products consists of top fruit and 35% of other products, such as kiwifruit, grapes and pineapples. Seven Seas Europe does not only import from South Africa, but also from South American countries, China, Pakistan, and India. South Africa remains the most important source, because 55 to 60% of the imported products comes from South Africa.


Availability of South African grapes at Seven Seas.