14. CURRENT WORLD STATUS, DISTRIBUTION AND TRADE

Longan is normally grown in regions with subtropical climate where a short (2-3 months) but cool (mean temperatures 15-22°C) winter season is necessary for floral induction. As such, the longan thrives well in southern and southwestern China, northern Thailand and central and southern Taiwan Province of China. Elsewhere the longan has been grown on a smaller scale such as in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries as well as in Queensland (Australia) and Florida (United States). With the recent introduction of longan cultivars suited for true tropical conditions, longan growing has been extended to other parts of the countries, particularly the tropical lowlands. Currently only China, Thailand and Taiwan Province of China have exploited the commercial growing of the longan, although Vietnam has recently started exporting longan to other countries.

China

China has a history of over 2,000 years of longan cultivation. The total cultivated area in China in 1997 reached 432,400 ha with a production of 232,000 metric tons (Liu and Ma, 2000). Longan growing provinces in China include Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Sichuan, Yunnan and Hainan, with the first three provinces dominating longan production. Inspite of her own production, China is a net importer of longan.

Thailand

Thailand is currently the biggest exporter of longan in the world. Total planted area in 1998 was 41,504 ha with a production of 238,000 metric tons (Subhadrabandhu and Yapwattanaphun, 2000a). Longan production is concentrated in the upper northern provinces with cultivation recently extended to eastern and central regions. Major longan growing provinces include Lamphun, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Nan, Phra Yao, Lampang, Phrae and Chanthaburi.

Longan has contributed more towards Thailand's economy when compared to lychee. About 50 percent of the total production were exported in 1997 (Table 9). This compares favourably to lychee where less than 10 percent of the country's production was exported. Longan is not facing the strong competition which lychee is experiencing in international markets from producers such as China, Taiwan Province of China, India and Australia (Subhadrabandhu and Yapwattanaphun, 2000a). In 1997, a total of 135,923 metric tons of longan with a value of US$ 201 million were exported from Thailand in the forms of fresh, dried, frozen and canned fruits. The two years of 1996 and 1997 saw a 2-3 fold increase in the export of longan when compared to 1993 and 1995.

Table 9. Export of longan from Thailand

Year	Fresh		Dried		Frozen		Canned
	Amount (metric ton)	Value (US $1,000)	Amount (metric ton)	Value (US $1,000)	Amount (metric ton)	Value (US $1,000)	Amount (metric ton)	Value (US $1,000)
1989	3,205	2,850	154	1,110	163	370	3,227	4,510
1990	14,355	8,440	837	3,240	187	380	8,554	10,180
1991	7,618	6,500	780	4,210	307	690	4,073	6,700
1992	12,811	11,910	724	4,710	288	740	7,973	11,680
1993	21,310	15,920	879	3,840	159	390	8,391	13,530
1994	32,628	30,260	3,335	9,930	140	340	10,020	14,820
1995	31,719	35,280	3,655	7,820	160	380	10,554	16,610
1996	61,053	51,450	26,850	41,840	231	500	16,132	24,370
1997	81,632	84,790	38,075	85,710	241	590	15,975	30,120

Source: Subhadrabandhu and Yapwattanaphun (2000a).

Table 10. Amount and value of fresh longan exported from Thailand to different countries

Country	1995		1996		1997
	Amount (metric ton)	Value (US $1,000)	Amount (metric ton)	Value (US $1,000)	Amount (metric ton)	Value (US $1,000)
Hong Kong	22,714	24,110	48,774	38,620	63,529	63,920
Indonesia	3,075	3,120	4,539	4,600	6,922	6,040
Singapore	2,620	2,510	2,236	1,990	3,233	2,310
Canada	1,309	2,390	1,550	2,630	1,404	2,760
Malaysia	1,357	2,340	2,830	2,340	4,126	6,540
China	283	400	453	360	1,263	1,640
UK	93	120	77	130	54	50
France	57	80	96	110	71	70
Others	211	220	498	650	1,030	1,450
Total	31,719	35,280	61,053	51,450	81,632	84,790

Source: Subhadrabandhu and Yapwattanaphun (2000a).

Table 11. Amount and value of dried longan exported from Thailand to different countries

Country	1995		1996		1997
	Amount (metric ton)	Value (US $1,000)	Amount (metric ton)	Value (US $1,000)	Amount (metric ton)	Value (US $1,000)
China	1,764	2,340	9,279	9.320	15,508	32,600
Hong Kong	327	1,330	16,426	28,790	20,924	45,610
Singapore	159	1,270	140	1,050	221	2,000
Korea	138	720	31	140	316	1,670
Malaysia	78	350	54	210	96	450
UK	23	260	40	270	0.6	1
Canada	24	90	7	80	13	190
France	8	60	3	30	7	100
Others	1,139	1,350	870	1,900	9,904	3,050
Total	3,655	7,770	26,850	41,790	38,075	85,670

Source: Subhadrabandhu and Yapwattanaphun (2000a).

Taiwan Province of China had a total planted area of 12,015 ha in 1997 and 11,808 ha in 1998 with production of 130,500 and 53,385 metric tons, respectively. Production areas are mainly in the central and southern regions of the country. Taiwan Province of China exports longan mainly in the form of dried, preserved and canned fruits (Table 12). Of these, dried fruit constitutes the major form of export. Total export value of longan from Taiwan Province of China in 1997 was about US$ 2.8 million and in 1998 it was about US$ 1.3 million. Fluctuation of export is a reflection of the biennial bearing habit of the longan crop. Hong Kong, USA and Singapore are major importers of dried longan from Taiwan Province of China (Table 13).

Table 12. Exports of Longan from Taiwan Province of China

Year	Dried longan		Preserved longan		Canned longan
	Quantity (metric ton)	Value (US $1,000)	Quantity (metric ton)	Value (US $1,000)	Quantity (metric ton)	Value (US $1,000)
1994	588	1,723	8	90	2	4
1995	3,545	5,054	90	272	0	0
1996	386	607	17	176	0	1
1997	1,368	2,546	56	218	0	0
1998	857	1,104	20	147	1	2

Table 13. Amount and value to longan export from Taiwan Province of China to various countries (1998)

Country	Dried longan		Preserved longan		Canned longan
	Quantity (metric ton)	Value (US $1000)	Quantity (metric ton)	Value (US $1000)	Quantity (metric ton)	Value (US $1000)
Hong Kong	815	818	0	0	0	0
USA.	11	124	5	62	1	1
Singapore	22	112	9	45	0	0
Japan	3	19	0	0	0	0
Malaysia	3	15	0	0	0	0
Netherlands	0	0	6	36	0	0
Others	2	7	0	0	0	0

Source: Yen (2000).

Vietnam grows longan mainly in the Mekong delta, with smaller areas in southeast and northern regions. Total planted area was 33,914 ha in 1998 and 41,600 ha in 1999 with production of 320,000 and 365,000 metric tons, respectively (Nguyen, 2000). About 10 percent of longan production were exported mainly to China in the form of fresh and dried fruits.

Australia

Longan was originally introduced to north Queensland by Chinese miners. During the last 10 years the yield and quality of 28 cultivars introduced from China (13), Taiwan Province of China (2), Thailand (5), Florida (4), Hawaii (3) and local selection (1) have been under evaluation at the Atherton Tableland and in southern Queensland (Chacko and Downton, 1995). Total planted area in 1995 was estimated to be 200 ha. Over the last five years about 72,000 trees have been planted (Singh et al., 2000) using such cultivars as 'Kohala', 'Biew Khiew', 'Chompoo,' 'Haew,' 'Dang', 'Kay Sweeney', and 'Fuhko2' (Chacko and Downton, 1995; Sing et al., 2000). Current production of longan is between 300 to 1,000 metric tons of fruit each season.

Florida

The current planted area of longan is between 140 to 180 ha in Southern Florida (Campbell and Campbell, 2000). Germplasm introduction began on a significant scale with the importation of seeds from China in the 1940s. These seedling trees have never attained any commercial success due to their small fruit size, unreliable bearing and poor propagation success by air-layering. Due to the market demand for large fruit size, the cultivar 'Kohala' tops the list of desirable fruit types. Introduced by William F. Whitman in 1954 from Hawaii the 'Kohala' is also reliable in its bearing and can be easily propagated by air-layering. Other cultivars currently under testing include 'Biew Khiew' and 'Diamond River'. Longan produced in Florida is mainly sold as fresh fruit for the local ethnic market.

Others

Elsewhere longan is grown on a smaller scale, for example Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia and Malaysia (Figure 12). Countries such as India and South Africa grow little longan since priority has been given to lychee cultivation. There is also some growing of longan, mainly cultivars from Thailand, in Israel (Blumenfeld et al., 2000).

Figure 12. Large scale cultivation of the commercial longan in Malaysia.