by Rob Wright, Fraser Coast Chronicle
Lychees will hit the supermarket shelves late this season, after a slow start for northern growers.
Harvest usually begins in northern orchards in October, but this season’s crop launched in late November and delivered small- to medium-sized fruit.
But the delay has been outweighed now by exceptional growing conditions. With other regions now coming on-line, production is set to rally with an abundance of fruit available until late February.
This week, The Avolution, a grower-owned business representing key lychee suppliers, predicted one of the best crops on record.
The Avolution chief executive officer Antony Allen, said despite the delayed start, growers were calling this one of the best harvests ever.
“Although we’re now two thirds of the way through the harvest, it’s clear that overall we have a high yield of top quality lychees,” Mr Allen said.
“So we should see quality fruit available at excellent prices thanks to the strong late-season supply.”
The Queensland lychee industry is currently on a strong growth curve, with increased production this year marking sustained consumer demand for the exotic fruit.
“Across just four growers we work with, we’ve seen production increase from 30,000 to 60,000 trays in the past year,” Mr Allen said.
Additional growth is expected from the development of exports, with the industry firmly focused on the US as a target market.
“The lychee industry is currently working through the process of making shipments to the US market commercially viable,” Mr Allen said.
“There is a three-year program in place which could pave the way for massive expansion of the market.”
Introduced to Australia by Chinese migrants in the 1870s, the bulk of the fruit was sold domestically with 20-35% exported to Asia and New Zealand.
Source: Fraser Coast Chronicles