table grape variety

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. Market characteristics Chile, Peru, the United States, China, Turkey, Spain, South Africa and Australia are all major producers and exporters of table grapes. World table grape production in 2016 is estimated by the USDA to be in the region of 21.0 million metric tons per annum, China alone accounting for an estimated 9.7 million metric tons of this global total. Chile remains the world's single largest table grape exporter, exporting over 800,000 metric tons to mainly North American and European markets. China, by way of contrast, exports only 247,000 metric tons per annum mainly to South East Asian markets; a small percentage of overall production.