By hannover-web.com In mid-October, the golden season of oil tea harvesting is underway in Guangdong Province, with the Forestry Bureau reporting that the area dedicated to oil tea cultivation has hit 3.3 million acres. This year’s estimated yield of oil tea seeds across the province is around 250,000 tons.
Recently, the Guangdong Forestry Bureau organized a media event to celebrate the oil tea harvest. At the Youfeng Oil Tea Industry Park in Shaoguan, rows of flourishing oil tea trees are laden with plump fruit. Workers and farmers can be seen bustling through the groves, engaged in harvesting and transporting the fruit—creating a picturesque autumn harvest scene.
Zhang Yulong, the general manager of Guangdong Youfeng Oil Tea Technology Co., expressed optimism, stating, “This year’s favorable weather has yielded over 1,200 pounds of oil tea fruit per acre.” His company, now in its 14th year of oil tea cultivation, has developed a high-quality oil tea base covering 10,000 acres.
In Shaoguan City, the area dedicated to oil tea cultivation spans approximately 330,000 acres, supported by two excellent breeding bases and three extensive oil tea plantations. The expected yield for this year is about 15,500 tons of oil tea seeds and approximately 4,000 tons of tea oil. A representative from the Shaoguan Forestry Bureau highlighted the local government’s strong backing for the oil tea industry, with central government support totaling 35.44 million yuan, along with 31.69 million yuan from provincial agricultural funds earmarked for oil tea reforestation efforts between 2020 and 2024.
Moreover, Shaoguan is actively implementing policy-based insurance for oil tea, covering around 58,500 acres with premiums amounting to 5.6114 million yuan. This initiative aims to assist forestry enterprises and farmers in mitigating funding shortages while promoting increased income for local farmers.
Bai Kunli, the executive deputy secretary-general of the Guangdong Forestry Industry Association, noted that in 2023, the province’s oil tea seed yield approached 220,000 tons, with tea oil production reaching 45,000 tons, contributing more than 10 billion yuan in total economic value. This year’s seed production is projected to increase to 250,000 tons, with the purchase price for fresh oil tea fruit ranging from 1.6 to 2.0 yuan per pound. The province expects to complete the fresh fruit harvest by mid-November.
As one of the eight key provinces for oil tea development in the country, Guangdong hosts eight national key forestry enterprises, 38 provincial forestry leaders, and boasts 158 tea oil brands. The region is also home to 107,834 smallholder farmers, 178 family-run forests, 770 cooperatives, and 269 planting enterprises.
In recent years, Guangdong has accelerated its ecological development, focusing on improving the quality and efficiency of oil tea production while expanding cultivation area, upgrading low-yield forests, and enhancing tea oil production capacity. The province has integrated oil tea production into its broader ecological construction plans aimed at improving forest quality.
The “Three-Year Action Plan for Accelerating the Development of the Oil Tea Industry in Guangdong Province (2023-2025)” sets an ambitious goal of increasing the total area of oil tea forests to 3.6 million acres and achieving an annual oil output of 80,000 tons by 2025, along with the establishment of 10 distinctive provincial oil tea development bases.
The Guangdong Forestry Bureau aims to leverage the promotion of ecological projects and the “High-Quality Development Initiative for Counties, Towns, and Villages” to further accelerate the oil tea industry’s growth. The plan includes developing high-yield oil tea demonstration bases to encourage best practices and the establishment of a shared brand for “Yue Lin Tea Oil.”
