The Region That Grows The Most Lychees Worldwide

Imperial Chinese lore has is that the lychee's sweet, floral flavor is so diminished by the fifth day after picking that it is all but inedible. So it is with great dismay that a minor official in southern China learns he must deliver the highly perishable fruit more than 1,200 miles so the emperor's beloved concubine can enjoy it fresh, according to the plot of the well-received 2025 Chinese dramedy "The Lychee Road". The start of the official's long and costly adventure begins in the region that today contains Guangdong Province, the center of the world's lychee trade, where the most fruit are grown.

The ephemeral tropical and subtropical fruit, which has been cultivated in southern China for at least 2,000 years, has a red exterior that resembles alligator skin and hides white flesh that's crisp, sweet, and tart. Unfortunately for the lowly official with the difficult task, the consort lived in northern China, and lychee was only successfully cultivated in the southlands before spreading to other tropical locales where it thrived.

Nowadays, China represents the lion's share of the $7.5 billion global lychee market, with an estimated 2025 production of more than 2 million metric tons, making up nearly 65% of worldwide production. Guangdong Province alone is expected to produce 1.6 million metric tons this year. By contrast, India, the second biggest national producer of the fruit, will produce just 700,000 metric tons.

The global appetite for lychees has been growing as health conscious foodies find out about the fruit's unique flavor and nutritional profile and experimenters find creative ways to use lychees. Major export destinations include the United States, Canada, and Europe where, to meet that demand, cultivation has spread beyond Asia to include Africa, Australia, and the Americas.

But all is not totally rosy for production in Guangdong Province, also known as the Kingdom of Lychee. A bumper 2025 for the fruit comes after an extremely poor 2024 season, with the wild swings making life difficult for farmers. While boom-and-bust cycles have long been a part of agriculture, hotter and drier conditions associated with planet-warming greenhouse gasses are worsening the rollercoaster harvest phenomenon. Guangdong's 2024 lychee harvest was around 50% lower than normal because of a combination of extreme weather, a warmer-than-normal winter, and heavy rain. This year, the harvest has more than bounced back, but the resulting low prices for the oversupplied lychee market has hit farmers hard.

Not all is doom and gloom though as climate change may also broaden the geographic range of where lychees can be grown. So it doesn't seem likely that there would be a long-term global shortage of the fruit, which is good news for those adventurous gourmands looking to make a lychee martini or a strawberry, coconut, and lychee layer cake.