The export volume and price of our country's lychees have risen simultaneously, with a preservation period that can last up to one month.

2025 is a bumper year for lychees, which are not only selling well domestically but also seeing continuous expansion in overseas markets, with exports experiencing explosive growth. Ports in Shenzhen, Guangdong, handle more than 70% of Guangdong's lychee exports, with more and more containers loaded with lychees departing from Shenzhen to the world.

Maoming, as the world's largest contiguous lychee planting base, has performed particularly outstandingly. This year, lychee export orders from Maoming have reached 7,100 tons, with a year-on-year growth rate of 132%, and the number of export countries and regions has increased to 22. The local government has vigorously promoted integrated lychee preservation technology, extending the preservation time of some lychee varieties from 6 days to 1 month. Meanwhile, customs have helped orchards and processing plants quickly obtain export registration qualifications, opening up a "green channel" that has increased lychee clearance efficiency by more than 20%. In recent years, Guangdong's lychee exports have exceeded 8,000 tons annually, accounting for over 55% of the national lychee export share, with high-quality varieties such as Feizixiao, Baitangke, Heiye, and Guiwei selling well in Malaysia, Singapore, Italy, the United States, Australia, and other countries.

Hainan lychees have also performed impressively on the export stage this year. In April, Hainan's first batch of high-quality lychees was quickly air-shipped to 7 countries including the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Singapore, with an initial export volume of about 7 tons. The "Guihuaxiang" variety exported this time was well-received by European and Middle Eastern customers, with the first batch of orders quickly sold out.

In terms of price, the retail terminal price of Hainan's exported "Guihuaxiang" variety is about 40-45 euros per pound, equivalent to over 300 yuan. Guangxi lychees, thanks to high quality, brand development, and upgraded cold chain logistics, have successfully entered the high-end markets in Europe and America, with some varieties (such as Guiwei and Feizixiao) exporting at prices as high as 200 yuan per kilogram (about 25 euros per pound), far exceeding domestic market prices (about 10-30 yuan per pound).

In terms of export varieties, Feizixiao and Heiye, with their thicker fruit skins that are easier to preserve, have always been the main export categories. Now, with the help of preservation technology and air transportation, some more delicate varieties have also successfully been sold overseas. Li Zhefeng, the market director of Guangdong Zhongli Agriculture Group Co., Ltd., introduced that foreign consumers have more requirements for the taste and flavor of lychees, and they have increased the varieties they export to include Bingli, Chi Meiren, and Xian Jinfeng, among others. In 2025, lychees transported by air have accounted for 10% of the total export volume, showing a significant increase.

However, lychee exports also face some challenges. Although cold chain logistics technology has made some progress, with some enterprises developing packaging technologies such as "modified atmosphere preservation" that extend the preservation period of lychees to 20 days, or even 1 month for some varieties, the application cost of these technologies is too high for small and medium-sized farmers to bear. High logistics costs are also a significant factor restricting lychee exports. Lychee exports mainly rely on air and sea transportation: air transportation is fast but extremely costly, with the freight from China to Europe being about 5-10 US dollars per kilogram, and with packaging, warehousing, and other fees, transportation costs account for 30%-40% of the total cost; sea transportation is relatively cheaper, but the transportation time is long, requiring more stringent preservation technology, and the transportation process has more uncertain factors, resulting in higher losses.