It seems the rainy season has been longer than usual in Shenzhen this year, which in turn is affecting the fruit harvest of local farms. In particular, a widely-loved variety of lychee called nuomici (糯米糍), which is grown in Nanshan, is experiencing the lowest yield in 30 years.
Nuomici is a large, juicy variety of lychee with a high flesh to seed ratio and is available from late June to early July. It’s known for it’s smooth, plump white meat and abundance of flavor.
The torrential downpours last week caused the flesh of the fruit to swell, cracking the skin and spilling out the juicy contents, which has ultimately rendered the produce unsellable. One local fruit farmer, surnamed Zhang, told Shenzhen Economic Daily that “on one tree you can’t even find 20 lychees.”
Last year, many fruit trees were affected by a relatively warm winter (the average temperature was 24 degrees Celsius last winter). Those ‘chilly’ months are meant to be the dormant period for lychee trees, which directly impacts the growth of the fruit. As a result, the warm winter caused most of the lychee to miss the dormant period, with the nutrients absorbed by the tree’s buds instead.
Lychee lovers beware, this year nuomici varieties are predicted to be over RMB50 per jin (approximately 500 grams), RMB20 more than last year.
READ MORE: 13 Busted for Selling Fake Imported Fruit in Shanghai
[Cover image via Pexels]
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