In China, the lychee crop is expected to fall by up to 25 per cent this season, according to agricultural officials in southern China, who have attributed the decline to the severe winter weather earlier in the year.

The news was announced at a press conference on lychee and longan production and marketing, which took place in Qinzhou city, where it also revealed that the province of Fujian is expected to see an increase in production volumes of exotic fruits – 7,400 tonnes to a total of 188,000 tonnes.

Production is anticipated to fall elsewhere, however, with lychee and longan production down in Guangdong Province (700,000 tonnes, down 260,000 tonnes), Guangxi (390,000 tonnes, down 106,000 tonnes) and Hainan (50,000 tonnes, down 30,000 tonnes).

Low temperatures in January and February led to prolonged precipitation, and less sunlight due to cloudy conditions also adversely affected flowering lychee trees.

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