Mainland China torrential rain | “World Jasmine Flower Capital” Hengzhou hit by floods; flower tea production likely concerning in the second half of the year

Affected by the typhoon, strong rainfall hit Guangxi, putting multiple reservoirs in danger across Hengzhou, a place known as the “World’s Jasmine City.” Severe flooding and waterlogging disasters struck several townships. A flower farmer said all the jasmine flowers they grow were submerged: “There were only a few days left before we could harvest them.”

Misfortune compounds for the flower farmers: yields affected, and houses also collapse

Hengzhou is the world’s largest jasmine flower production base. The local area has 180k mu of jasmine cultivation, producing more than 150k tons of fresh jasmine flowers annually. Over 60% of the world’s and over 80% of China’s jasmine raw material come from here. But now, large-scale jasmine flower bases are already soaked in water.

Meng Rongrong, deputy secretary-general of the tourism industry association’s secretariat in Hengzhou, said nearly 80% of Hengzhou’s jasmine flowers are independently operated by small growers, while only a small part is industrialized planting by large-scale growers. She preliminarily estimated that the jasmine flowers downstream of the Lanyanshui Reservoir in Yunbiao Town have already reached an “unpriced” condition, and the losses are incalculable.

Meng Rongrong explained, “If it doesn’t rain this month, local farmers will be making jasmine tea by harvesting jasmine flowers.” “The flowers definitely can’t be saved, and many tea factories have been flooded too.” She said, “Hengzhou farmers originally rely on jasmine flowers to make a living; now their harvest has been greatly affected, and on top of that, houses have collapsed—making it very hard for them to survive.”

According to reports, before the flood, the market price of Hengzhou jasmine flowers could reach more than 50 yuan per catty at the highest (the same below for RMB), while the lowest was still 30 yuan for 3 catties. “Jasmine flowers need at least two or three months to recover to the planting level before the flood.”

After the disaster, multiple tea beverage brands, including Luckin Coffee, Jasmine Milk White, Bawang Chajii, and Pao Zhu Gong, announced donations and support for Guangxi.

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A mudslide in Gansu killed 21 people. The location where it happened had no rain, and it is not a geological disaster hotspot