It seems like winter was just here but, in the blink of an eye, the orchards are heavy with fruit and the markets full of fresh and delicious tropical delights. With the recent hosting of the 4th Hainan International Tropical Fruit Expo and Spring Agricultural Products Trade Fair in Sanya, various exotic fruits have caught people's attention. When it comes to fruits from Hainan, what is the island's  "number one" fruit?

Tropical fruits have always been the "king" of Hainan's agricultural products. As far back as the 1980s, fruits from Hainan Island were not onlypopulardomestically but were also being exported around the world. However, over time, the fruit best loved by the markets and farmers alike has gradually changed.

Production Champions: Pineapple and Banana

The spiky pineapple and the humble banana are very common in Hainan. Long occupying kitchens around the world, it's no wonder these staple fruits are the most grown in terms of both land use and total production weight.

Hainan grows a lot of these on account of favorable climatic conditions, a good natural environment, the support of modern agricultural technology, and clever choices in varietal planting.

Pineapple. (Painting by Chen Yongqiang)

Hainan has always been one of China's major pineapple production areas. Most pineapples are grown in the rich soil of rural Wanning, Qionghai, Haikou, Wenchang, Ding'an, Chengmai, and Lingao. Although the  "Bali" pineapple varietal has refused to give up its crown, pineapple related agricultural enterprises and institutions in Hainan have introduced other varietals such as "Golden Diamond," "Sweet Honey," and "Ice Sugar Red". Introduced from Taiwan and bred by the Tropical Crop Variety Resources Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, the Ice Sugar Red is a sweet red pineapple much loved by consumers.

Bananas have maintained their place as Hainan's Most Grown  fruit for 32 years now. Currently, the most common banana in Hainan is the Cavendish. Accounting for about 80% of bananas in Hainan, specialty bananas cultivars (such as pink bananas, emperor bananas, and plantains) make up the remainder. Hainan's banana farmers are particularly proud of  their yield per unit area, as it is also relatively high among banana growing regions across the world.

Rising Stars: Mango, Lychee and Green Oranges

In spring and summertime, sweet mangoes and juicy lychee are superstars in Hainan.

Lychee. (Painting by Zhang Keqi)

The industrial development of mangoes in Hainan began in the 1960s. After 2000, Hainan gradually became the largest high-quality mango production base in China. By 2005, Hainan's total mango production had exceeded the total pineapple production. Ever since then, although more land is planted with pineapples, the oval fruit has held on to second place.

Compared to bananas, mangoes, and pineapples, neither the land area dedicated to lychee orchards nor the overall production volumeare very large; however, their export performance is impressive enough to land them the top spot in Hainan's overseas fruit market. Since they were first exported to Japan in 2003, Hainan lychees—with an export volume second only to Guangdong lychees—have entered the European, American, and Oceanian markets.

Longan. (Painting by Zheng Fenglin)

Since the mid-1990s, more exotic tropicalfruits (such as starfruit, guava, dragon fruit, Indian jujube, and the Javanese wax apple) have gradually settled in Hainan. With it's thin skin and juicy flesh, the green orange grown in the central mountainous area of Qiongzhong has also begun to emerge as a new force in the domestic high-end fruit market.

Internet Celebrities: Coconut and Durian

In recent years, the humble coconut and the fragrant durian have become hot online.

Coconut. (Painting by Gao Jianfu)

Accounting for a whopping 99% of Chinese coconuts, Hainan is the nation's main coconut-producing region! As coconut-based beverages continue to gain in popularity, the Hainan Coconut Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences is enriching the variety of coconuts grown and improving their quality by introducing dwarf palmssuch as the "Wen Coconut 2," "Wen Coconut 3," and "Wen Coconut 4."

Durian. (Painting by He Junhua)

Although Hainan only began harvesting durian in 2019, it also has a strong connection with this typically Thai fruit. The first grove of durian trees were planted at the Hongmaodan Fruit Base in Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County. Their rapid adoption by the market broughtgrowers and researchers great surprise and renewed confidence in their decision to bring the durian to Hainan.

In recent years, experts from the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences have carried out all sorts of agtech innovations for durian planting and processing. It is expected that the first 100% domestically created durian processing plant will be completed in Sanya in August of this year. Once that happens and the durian-specific processing machinery is installed, experts predict this  will set off a new wave of durian fever.