Articles
Longan and lychee in Thailand: production, industry, research and development
Article number
1447_2
Pages
13 – 22
Language
English
Abstract
In Thailand, cultivating area of fruit crops accounts for 25% of agricultural land use (Office of Agricultural Economics, 2022). Longan and lychee are the major fruit crops in northern Thailand.
One of the fresh fruits with the high export value is longan, which follows durian.
From 2012 to 2021, the longan planting area in Thailand increased by about 60%, which is contrary with that of lychee, which had a 26% decrease.
Lychee’s planting area share was about 12% in year 2012 and decreased to 6% in year 2021. As described, it is difficult to expand the commercial scale for lychee in Thailand.
According to the report of Office of Agricultural Economics, more than half of the longan production in Thailand is exported as fresh or dry fruit.
Considering the export volume in a decade (2012-2021), the export volume expanded from 455,663 to 633,131 t, which was a 39% increase.
Nonetheless, the percentage of export volume in some years decreased.
In year 2017, export volume was about 79% and downed to 37% in year 2021. One of the causes was Coronavirus pandemic.
The four major categories of export longan are fresh, dry, canned and frozen.
An average ratio for fresh:dry:canned:frozen longan is 75.35:23.02:1.62:0.01. Since COVID-19 crisis in 2019, Thai growers adapted their business by using social networks to sale products directly to the consumers.
This became a new trend of a domestic market.
Although, there are several longan cultivars grown in Thailand, 95% of the export longan is ‘E-daw’. The other cultivars, e.g., ‘Si-chompoo’, ‘Haeo’, and ‘Biaokhiao’, are mostly grown for domestic consumption.
For lychee production, it depends on topographic.
For example, ‘Jackrapat’ and ‘Hong Hoey’ are mainly grown in the north of Thailand, whereas ‘Kom’ for the central region, and ‘Nakon panom 1’ for the North-Eastern.
Our research works have mainly focused for longan production.
Lychee information might not be as much as that of longan because of their small economic impact.
Furthermore, the recent works have concentrated more on a smart agricultural technique, food safety, zero waste and innovation instead of standard cultural practices.
One of the fresh fruits with the high export value is longan, which follows durian.
From 2012 to 2021, the longan planting area in Thailand increased by about 60%, which is contrary with that of lychee, which had a 26% decrease.
Lychee’s planting area share was about 12% in year 2012 and decreased to 6% in year 2021. As described, it is difficult to expand the commercial scale for lychee in Thailand.
According to the report of Office of Agricultural Economics, more than half of the longan production in Thailand is exported as fresh or dry fruit.
Considering the export volume in a decade (2012-2021), the export volume expanded from 455,663 to 633,131 t, which was a 39% increase.
Nonetheless, the percentage of export volume in some years decreased.
In year 2017, export volume was about 79% and downed to 37% in year 2021. One of the causes was Coronavirus pandemic.
The four major categories of export longan are fresh, dry, canned and frozen.
An average ratio for fresh:dry:canned:frozen longan is 75.35:23.02:1.62:0.01. Since COVID-19 crisis in 2019, Thai growers adapted their business by using social networks to sale products directly to the consumers.
This became a new trend of a domestic market.
Although, there are several longan cultivars grown in Thailand, 95% of the export longan is ‘E-daw’. The other cultivars, e.g., ‘Si-chompoo’, ‘Haeo’, and ‘Biaokhiao’, are mostly grown for domestic consumption.
For lychee production, it depends on topographic.
For example, ‘Jackrapat’ and ‘Hong Hoey’ are mainly grown in the north of Thailand, whereas ‘Kom’ for the central region, and ‘Nakon panom 1’ for the North-Eastern.
Our research works have mainly focused for longan production.
Lychee information might not be as much as that of longan because of their small economic impact.
Furthermore, the recent works have concentrated more on a smart agricultural technique, food safety, zero waste and innovation instead of standard cultural practices.
Authors
T. Jaroenkit, P. Manochai
Keywords
production, opportunity, new market, trends
Online Articles (24)