Table grapes are grapes intended for consumption while fresh, as opposed to grapes grown for wine production, juice production, or for drying into raisins. Vitis vinifera table grapes can be in the form of either seeded or non-seeded varietals and range widely in terms of colour, size, sweetness and adaptability to local growing conditions.

Common commercially available table grape varieties such as Thompson Seedless and Flame Seedless are favoured by growers for their high yield and relative resistance to damage during shipment. Other less common varietals such as Cotton Candy, Kyoho or Pione are custom hybrids bred for size, appearance and specific flavour characteristics.

Delving into the Lebanese market, main table grapes varieties include Baytamouni, Tfeifihi, Maghdushi, Jbaai, Globe seedless, Early Superior seedless, Black Pearl, Red Globe. The most important areas of production are the Bekaa and Akkar where cultivation is facilitated by the local climate, including a long period of sunny days over the year, fertile soil and adequate averages of rainfall, which ensure the appropriate Brix degree. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, seasonal availability extends from June to February.

As shown in figure 2, the largest exporters of table grapes worldwide are China, Peru, Chile, Italy, and USA .
Lebanon's exports represent about 0.2% of world exports for this product, with its ranking in world exports at 25 (trade hubs excluded).

Largest Table Grapes Producers

By far, the largest producer and exporter of table grapes globally is China, and the top six producers, namely China, Peru, Chile, South Africa, USA and India account for more than 50% of global production volumes.

Largest producers in the Mediterranean region

The largest table grape producer in the Mediterranean region is Turkey (approximately 2 million tonnes), followed by Italy with production reaching almost 1 million tonnes.

Lebanon’s table grapes harvest season is from June till February as shown in Table 1, whereas in the European competitive countries it’s from June till November in Spain and from July till November in Italy. Thus, there is a window for the Lebanese table grapes in December and February.

South Africa, on the other hand, notably appears as a top exporter to several EU countries with the harvest season appearing at its peak during the period between December and April. However, it is worth noting that exports from South Africa – during the harvest season – are the highest in January and February, and the lowest in April.

Delving deeper into the EU markets, several countries appear particularly interesting for Lebanon, during the latter’s harvest season and in reference to the supply by top exporters, as follows:

• The Netherlands, during the months of December and January given the drastic drop in the supply of table grapes by India.
• Germany, during the months of December, January and February, given the drop in the supply by Italy and Spain
• The United Kingdom, during the months of December, January and February, given the drop in the supply by Spain and Egypt
• France, during the months of December, January and February, given the drop in the supply by Italy, Spain and mainly Chile.

For the purpose of identifying potential markets for Lebanese exports of table grapes, a model was built to include indicators such as worldwide imports, exports and export growth from Lebanon, a comparison between tariffs facing Lebanon and leading competitors in the market, average distance and concentration of suppliers, import trade windows, GDP and others.

Based on the calculation and analysis of the figures, 7 countries were identified as promising and offering great opportunities for Lebanese exporters of table grapes. These countries include Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, UK, Qatar, Russia, UAE, and Malaysia.

Table 3 below provides an overview of these potential export markets including the main used indicators