China’s $4 Billion Lychee Harvest Devastated by Extreme Weather
- Nation’s lychee harvest could be barely half last year’s haul
- Rapeseed and rice crops also threatened by protracted rains
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Extreme weather is devastating China’s crop of lychees, the jelly-like tropical fruit that’s worth $4 billion a year to the country’s farmers.
The nation is both the world’s largest producer and consumer of the fruit, and a significant exporter. About half of China’s lychees are grown in the southern province of Guangdong, where the harvest has fallen foul of an unusually warm winter followed by heavy spring rains. As a consequence, prices have jumped.