Towards the end of the year lychees will be available again in the fruit departments of the supermarkets. A large part of these lychees comes from Madagascar. Recently the new lychee season started there and the expectations for the 2012/2013 season are positive.
The association of lychee exporters in Madagascar is sure that during the coming weeks 17,000 tons of lychees will leave the country in the direction of Europe. This is 14 percent more than in the 2011/2012 season.
Also in Germany the first supplies have arrived already. Lychees are again to be found in the advertising leaflets of the supermarkets and the price on offer here in week 48 and 49 was about Euro 9.90/kg. In week 50 the price on offer was already clearly lower at Euro 6.90 to Euro 7.90/kg.
It appears that lychees are not so popular with German household any more. The average quantity bought per household decreased by almost 73 percent between 2003 and 2011 here. However, the supply also plays a role in this, as there was an import stop for lychees from Madagascar in the 2010/2011 season.