THE China International Tropical Crops Industry Conference & 7th Litchi and Longan Industry Conference, co-hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and Guangdong Provincial Government, will be held in the city of Maoming, Guangdong, on Saturday, organizers said.

Chen Zhongyi, deputy director of the South Asian Tropical Crop Center under the agriculture ministry, said at a news conference that the nation’s annual output of tropical crops has reached about 36 million cubic tons, with an annual output value of over 200 billion yuan (US$28.48 billion).

Guangdong is one of the main production areas of tropical and subtropical crops in China. According to Qu Yuanyuan, an official from the Guangdong provincial agriculture department, the province boasts the highest yield and output value of tropical crops in China, with the richest resources of crop varieties.

Litchi has a long history in Guangdong.

As the main litchi-producing region in China, the output of litchi in Guangdong exceeds half of the country’s total, accounting for one-third of the world’s total.

Guangdong litchi has so far been successfully exported to more than 20 countries and regions, including the U.S., Singapore, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. In 2022, the export of fresh litchi from Guangzhou reached a new high of 170 million yuan, accounting for 59.4% of the total share of the national exports of this juicy summer fruit.

Guangdong’s litchi industry has currently made a considerable breakthrough in terms of ultra-low temperature freezing and fresh-keeping technology for better preservation, which combined with fast delivery, is the key to putting fresh litchi on the shelf of foreign markets.

Maoming is the world’s largest litchi production base, with about 20% output of the world’s total.

The city is also the largest longan production base in the province, accounting for half of the province’s output.

Previously, Maoming had hosted three sessions of the China Litchi and Longan Industry Conference.(SD News)