This year's Chinese lychee market is completely different than last year. The reason for this difference is extreme weather during the period when lychee trees were in blossom. The production volume was greatly reduced this year. The lychee supply from most production areas is already finished. Even the production areas that still supply lychees are working hard to dispatch their final shipments.
One employee from a fruit trade company in Shenzhen explained the situation as follows: "Most of the lychees currently for sale in the market are late-season lychees from Hejiang in Sichuan or seedless lychee from Fujian. The price of these two varieties is much higher than at around the same time last year. This is on the one hand because excessive rainfall reduced the lychee production volume and on the other hand because this year the lychee harvest was already smaller than usual. Other than that, this year the rate of seedless lychee is rather high and their product quality is not bad. Small volumes are transported by air freight to first-tier cities throughout China."
The fruit trade company from Shenzhen sold seedless lychees for the first time this year. This type of lychee is unique, delicious, and fragrant. Few consumers are familiar with this lychee variety, but they appreciate the convenience of seedless lychee. More and more consumers prefer seedless lychee. Market demand therefore grows stronger. The company purchases seedless lychees from Fujian and distribute them to first-tier cities throughout China to satisfy growing consumer demand. The supply volumes are still small because lychees are difficult to keep fresh. Land transport takes too long.