Abstract: Guangdong Province ranks first nationwide in both longan planting output and consumption, serving as a key representative of the southern subtropical characteristic fruit industry.Based on Guangdong provincial industrial statistics data from 2016 to 2025, this paper analyzes the development trends, bottlenecks and transformation paths of the longan industry in Guangdong Province. The study draws the following findings: (1) In terms of scale and structure, the province's longan planting area remains stable at 1.156×10⁵ hm². Although it accounts for 43.20% of the national total planting area, the industry suffers from excessive concentration of varieties and prominent homogenization. (2) With regard to production efficiency and spatial layout, western Guangdong producing areas possess strong price competitiveness by virtue of early-maturing varieties. In contrast, the Pearl River Delta producing areas face diminishing marginal returns and rigid increases in factor costs, leading to a declining comparative advantage. (3) From the value chain perspective, production costs have risen by 36.20% over the decade. Coupled with shifts in the international trade environment, the local industry is confronted with severe challenges including "output growth without income growth" and hindered exports. Further analysis reveals that the insufficient resilience of the industrial chain is mainly reflected in lagging variety innovation, low mechanization rate in mountainous orchards and a low processing conversion rate. Accordingly, during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the longan industry in Guangdong Province should take seed industry innovation as the core driving force, adopt "mechanization-suitable orchard transformation + smart agriculture" as production support, rely on graded processing and loss reduction & efficiency improvement as value-added approaches, and implement green prevention and control alongside brand building as quality guarantees. The conclusions of this research not only provide empirical evidence for addressing homogeneous competition and inefficient supply within Guangdong's longan industry, but also offer insights for China's southern subtropical characteristic fruits to engage in international competition and achieve coordinated development of the domestic and international dual circulation.