Table Grapes Accounted for 48% of Global Grape Production in 2025, OIV Says

The International Organisation of Vine and Wine spent five days in Murcia, Spain, deepening ties with the table grape industry, using the 11th International Table Grape Symposium as a forum to discuss production, trade, plant health and the growing share of table grapes in the global vine sector.

The symposium was held from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2 under the patronage of the OIV, the intergovernmental body known by its French acronym. The organization said its participation combined meetings with regional officials, technical exchanges with scientists and growers, and public presentations on global production trends and international standards.

The OIV’s visit began with talks with authorities and institutions in the Murcia region, a major grape-growing area in southeastern Spain. According to the organization, those meetings included the region’s agriculture minister, the heads of the regulatory councils for Murcia’s wine appellations and researchers at the Instituto Murciano de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario, known as IMIDA.

Those sessions focused on the regional importance of viticulture and the table grape business. The OIV said the meetings were intended to strengthen relations with local institutions and give the organization a clearer view of the issues affecting producers in the area.

That institutional agenda was followed by a dedicated meeting titled “Building Bridges Between the OIV and the International Table Grape Community.” The session brought together OIV officials, table grape specialists from several countries and a representative of the International Plant Protection Convention, or IPPC.

At that meeting, the OIV presented work being carried out by its Commission for Viticulture and by its Sub-Commission on Table Grapes, Dried Grapes and Unfermented Grapes. The organization said the discussion centered on technical priorities that now shape the sector in many producing regions, including adaptation to climate change, water-use efficiency, sustainability, biodiversity, plant health and innovation.

The IPPC used the meeting to update participants on work toward a new commodity standard for fresh Vitis vinifera fruit. The discussion highlighted the role of international coordination in reducing phytosanitary risks while allowing trade to move more smoothly between producing and importing countries.

The exchange widened during an international round table that included experts from China, Australia, India, Egypt and South Africa. The OIV said the format was intended to connect the organization more directly with the commercial and scientific concerns of the table grape sector across different climates and production systems.

The OIV’s public role at the symposium continued during the opening ceremony on Sept. 29, when Director General John Barker presented provisional global figures showing how strongly table grapes now shape the grape industry overall.

According to data cited by Barker, global grape production for all uses reached 73.8 million tonnes in 2025, grown on 7 million hectares. Of that total, 33.7 million tonnes were table grapes. The figures mean table grapes accounted for 48% of total grape production last year, up from 26% in 2000.

The numbers point to a major long-term shift in the vine sector. For decades, wine grapes dominated discussion in many international forums, but the figures presented in Murcia show that fresh grapes now represent nearly half of global grape output.

China was identified as the world’s largest table grape producer, with 15 million tonnes in 2025. Asia as a whole accounted for about 70% of global table grape production, underscoring the region’s central role in supply, research and market development.

Those statistics remain provisional. The OIV said it plans to publish its “Statistical Brief: Wine, Table Grapes and Dried Grapes in 2025” on its website in early November.

The scientific program continued through the final days of the symposium. On Oct. 2, Enrico Battiston, head of the OIV’s viticulture unit, spoke during a session titled “Smart Viticulture: From Field AI and Automated Monitoring to International Guidelines.”

Battiston’s presentation, “An overview of the OIV: Global data and common OIV guidelines,” focused on the use of international data and shared technical standards to support cooperation between producing regions facing similar pressures. The OIV said those pressures include climate resilience, water management, innovation in the field, plant health protection and the need for dependable rules that can support trade and research.

The organization’s presence in Murcia reflects a broader effort to engage more directly with a part of the grape business that has expanded quickly and faces a different set of demands than wine production. Table grape growers operate in a market where fruit quality, post-harvest handling, logistics, phytosanitary compliance and shelf life often shape returns as much as vineyard yields do.

That reality was reflected in the mix of speakers and institutions involved in the symposium. Alongside researchers and OIV officials, plant health authorities and experts from major producing countries discussed issues that now connect field management to border controls and consumer markets.

Murcia provided a fitting setting for that discussion. The region is one of Spain’s established grape-growing centers, with experience in both wine and fresh fruit production. By holding technical sessions there and meeting with local institutions, the OIV signaled that it wants its standards work and data collection to remain connected to conditions in producing regions, not just to debates at the international level.

The emphasis on water-use efficiency and climate adaptation was especially notable at a time when Mediterranean agriculture continues to face pressure from heat, drought and resource constraints. The OIV said those topics are now among the priorities being examined within its technical bodies, alongside biodiversity and plant health.

Trade also remained central to the conversations in Murcia. The IPPC’s update on a draft commodity standard for fresh Vitis vinifera fruit showed how regulatory work outside the OIV can affect growers and exporters directly. Common standards can influence inspection procedures, market access and the management of pest risks in global shipments of fresh grapes.

By placing global production data next to discussions on artificial intelligence, automated monitoring and international guidelines, the symposium linked current market growth with the technical systems that may shape future competitiveness. The OIV used its interventions to argue that reliable data and common rules are necessary if producing countries are to respond effectively to shared problems across regions and production models.

The organization said its meetings in Murcia were designed to open more channels with the international table grape community and to identify areas for closer scientific and technical cooperation. The statistical brief scheduled for publication in early November is expected to provide a fuller picture of 2025 production trends in wine, table grapes and dried grapes.