Lychee prices have gradually increased every year since 2009, and this development has sped up in the last two years. This makes people hopeful for lychee prospects this year. The major production areas in Hainan, Guangxi, and Guangdong all enjoy an excellent season. More than 90% of the flowers had blossomed by the end of March. Some areas even reached a blossoming rate of 98%. The lychee production areas showed all the signs of an upcoming bumper harvest, but recently they suffered a setback.
Hainan recently suffered from rain and many orchards have trees that prematurely dropped their fruit. The fruit is still maturing and it will be another month before the fruit is ripe and ready for the market. Dropping fruit now will certainly influence the production volume this season, but the influence is not big enough to undo the bumper harvest.
The increasing price of lychees is mainly a result of poor weather conditions in the last two years. A cold current in 2016 badly damaged the harvest of late-season lychees. Trees dropped their flowers and the blossoming rate reached a historical low. A springtime cold spell in 2017 had similar effects on many production areas in Guangdong and Guangxi. The reduced production volume in the last two years has led to higher prices.
Current conditions are unlike the last two years. The bumper harvest is certain to happen and there will be a large volume of high-quality lychees. The price is likely to return to reasonable levels this year.
Source: iFreshFair