Exporters of durians taste sweet success

Vietnam's durian exports to China surged 43 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year, reaching nearly $1 billion, according to figures from Vietnam's General Department of Customs.

At $988 million, durian accounted for nearly half, or 48.45 percent, of Vietnam's total fruit and vegetable exports to China, which also increased by nearly 25 percent to $2.04 billion during the same period, Viet Nam News reported on Thursday.

"If the current pace is maintained, durian exports for the full year could post stronger growth than last year," Dang Phuc Nguyen, secretary-general of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, was quoted as saying.

This is because the peak harvest season in Vietnam's major durian-growing region lasts from July to October.

Since Vietnam's fresh durian gained official approval for export to China in 2022, exports have continued to increase over the past few years, reaching nearly 3.5 billion in 2025 and making it the second-largest durian exporter to China after Thailand, according to Xinhua News Agency.

China is the world's most important consumer market for durian, which is also the country's largest fruit import category by value.

It imported 1.87 million tons of fresh durians in 2025, with an import value of about $7.49 billion, according to Chinese customs data.

It marked a sharp increase from a decade ago, when the import volume of the pungent fruit was only about 299,000 tons.

The rising demand has resulted in increased imports from Southeast Asia, the global heartland of durian plantations.

The Nation reported that Thailand exported 1 million tons of fresh durian to China as of July 19, exceeding the government's target ahead of schedule.

In July, the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries said the country exported 5,738 tons of fresh durians to the Chinese market between January and July this year, a significant increase of nearly 40 times from the total volume shipped throughout 2025.

Noting that Cambodia has opened a new cross-border land transport corridor to China through Laos, Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Wang Wenbin said in a Facebook post on July 28 that the new route cuts delivery time from 15-20 days to only five days, helping drive the growth.

"This new development in China-Cambodia trade and agricultural cooperation is truly encouraging," he said.

Undersecretary of State and Spokesperson for Cambodia's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Khim Finan said the shorter delivery time will improve the freshness of Cambodian durians exported to China while reducing logistics costs for exporters, according to the Khmer Times newspaper.

Known for its premium durian varieties such as Musang King, Malaysia is also considering exporting fresh durians overland via Thailand to enter China and reach more consumers at a lower cost, according to Singapore-based newspaper The Straits Times.

Besides trade routes, Joyce Lee, executive chairman of the Singapore South China Business Association, told China Daily that the success of the durian trade hinges on logistics and preservation technologies, particularly the use of end-to-end cold chains and liquid-nitrogen freezing.

She also said the large influx of new entrants into the durian trade has made the market highly competitive and led to clear segmentation of durians by quality, with some diverted into processing into derivative products.