A rather late campaign for the Madagascan litchi

While it is still too soon to determine how the forthcoming Madagascan litchi trading campaign will go, some aspects are already foreseeable. The initial phenological monitoring conducted by the Toamasina Technical Horticultural Centre (CTHT) indicated that the campaign will be on the late side. The drop in temperature enabling floral induction of the trees came in late June/early July, i.e. a fortnight later than in the previous reference years. The bloom was staggered across August, thanks to unfavourable weather conditions, which confirmed the lateness of the harvest. As a reminder, the 2022-23 harvest began on 21 November, as opposed to 17 November the previous year. Regarding the scale of production, from its observations of the bloom development, the CTHT confirmed that it should be in line with previous years. Consequently, with the first ship probably docking in week 50, Madagascan litchis should only have two trading weekends before the Christmas holidays.