Good sizes with a slightly delayed South African lychee harvest

The Mauritius harvest has started in early South African lychee growing areas, such as Malelane, and this is a little later than usual. In Tzaneen, the first Mauritius lychees will not be picked until mid-December. The early lychee varieties have been packed since October and growers in Malelane are currently finishing the harvest of the Early Delight variety, after which they switch to the picking of the Mauritius variety. "The lychee harvest this year is 20% to 30% smaller than last year and is estimated at about 1.3 million 2 kg cartons. 150,000 cartons of this are reserved for the program in the US," says Bram Snijder , president of the South African Litchi Growers' Association (SALGA). "Last year we had a harvest of 1.9 million 2 kg cartons, the second largest harvest in ten years. Last season went well. We had few problems with loading and the prices were good." The hail that hit Tzaneen on November 5 caused damage to the lychees. "We estimate the losses in the Tzaneen ...