Last year the lychee harvest was huge. This year the overall production volume was relatively small. The price therefore increased. The Guangdong meteorological website explained that the bumper harvest of last year exhausted the nutritional reserves of lychee trees. The blossom season was therefore disappointing, as trees had little energy to spare for the development of flowers. The temperature was on the high side in the winter of 2018-2019, and lychee trees were unable to gather sufficient nutrients to restore reserves. The small number of flowers foreshadowed the small production volume.
The production volume declined and when supply is limited, the price goes up. The Guangdong Department of Agriculture announced that the purchase price of early-season "Sanyue Hong" lychee in Gaozhou was around 15-20 yuan [2.17-2.89 USD] per 0.5 kg, while the price of "Baitang Ying" lychee in Zhanjiang was around 10-15 yuan [1.45-2.17 USD] per 0.5 kg. These are among the highest prices for those lychee varieties in the last 10 years.
Source: ifreshfair.cn