This trade brief examines the African production and export of grapes and grape products – namely fresh grapes, dried grapes, grape juice, wine, and fortified wines. In tonnage, China is the leading global producer while South Africa is the leading African producer, ranking 11th in the world. The only other African countries of significance are those north African countries bordering the Mediterranean.

The pattern of African grape product exports varies from the international profile – which has seen a dramatic rise in countries such as China and India in recent years – in that wine as a percentage of the total has declined from 62% in the first few years of this century to be marginally under half in the last four years. Fresh grapes have supplanted wine as the main export.

African grape product exports have represented between 3.3% to 3.9% of the global total this century, with South Africa completely dominating these exports. The EU is the destination of most of these grape product exports, but its relative importance is declining.

Readers are encouraged to quote and reproduce this material for educational, non-profit purposes, provided the source is acknowledged. All views and opinions expressed remain solely those of the author and do not purport to reflect the views of tralac.