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Published on January 17, 2025 in Fruitnet

Namibia ends “one of its best” table grape seasons

ARRA Varieties was recently featured in Fruitnet. Click here to view the original article.

While the crop was slightly down on the forecast, Namibia’s table grape season has finished on a high

Namibia’s table grape growers have said that they are ending the 2024/25 season on a high, with market returns being ”the best experienced yet”.

It is expected that the total harvest will be around 12mn 4.5kg cartons when final export figures are confirmed.

Pre-season forecasts indicated a similar crop to last year, and generally growers experienced excellent conditions for their main varieties.

Exporters said grapes were delivered into markets much quicker than last year, resulting in regular deliveries throughout the season.

It was perhaps also one of the best planned logistics seasons, with significant exports for the first time through Walvis Bay, and an express shipping service included by MSC in its service between Southern Africa and Europe.

Shipments through Walvis Bay relieved pressure on the port of Cape Town which also handled a significant number of containers from Namibia.

Logistics company GoGlobal said it used both the Walvis Bay and Cape Town shipping options for its container shipments from Namibia.

“We had a very successful logistics season for our customers in Namibia,” said Delena Engelbrecht, GoGlobal CEO.

There has been great interest in new early season varieties, particularly the ARRA range, in the country.

“ARRA Honey Pop™ is now confirmed as a strongly growing early new generation white grape, enabling the producers and marketers to service the early season market with better white grape varieties,” said Andre Agenbag, Topfruit’s table grape expert dealing with the Namibian and South African Orange River regions.

Other promising varieties launched under the ‘ARRA Red Factor’ strategy were ARRA Fire Crunch™ and ARRA Cherry Crush.

“ARRA Fire Crunch has really impressed all and ARRA Cherry Crush, a little bit later also did well,” added Agenbag.

Don’t miss out on these other articles:

ARRA Cherry Crush™

The Crush Everyone’s talking about!

Tony Calvillo, Vice President of International Business Development, Dayka & Hackett LLC, shared: “Today, we visited the ARRA Cherry Crush—a grape variety that exceeds the expectations of growers, consumers, and retailers alike. We are thrilled to witness its remarkable potential. Boasting an alluring cherry colour, impressive size, abundant production, and a perfect balance of taste and crunch, ARRA Cherry Crush creates a mutually beneficial scenario for discerning producers, consumers, and retailers.”

ARRA Fire Crunch™

Igniting the senses

Just in time for the festive season, the inaugural batch of ARRA Fire Crunch™ made its way from Peru to the USA. Karl Conrads, founder, CEO of Grapasa accompanied the first year vines from budbreak all the way to Walmart facilities in Los Angeles.

Don’t miss the footage, showing this landmark arrival, now the sky’s the limit.

ARRA Passion Fire™

Sharing the passion – Right now in Southern Africa:

“It’s a great, beautiful grape, we are having a great time packing it.” shares Gabriel Viljoen of G.P. Viljoen Farming

We’ve heard other growers excited about this year’s performance.

“The ARRA Passion Fire was probably the most beautiful red grapes around on our farms.”

ARRA Fire Kiss™

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This year, attendees got a firsthand look at ARRA Fire Kiss™ in Egypt. What stood out was how distinctly different it was from the Flame, leaving no doubt that it is the perfect Flame replacement.