31-5-2023 (HANOI) When Beijing allowed imports of fresh durian from Vietnam in September, it opened up a world of opportunity for fruit importer Bob Wang. Wang, based in southern China, has since secured deals with Vietnamese durian farms covering approximately 3,000 hectares, and he is eagerly ordering as much as they can provide.
“If everything goes well, I will import over 3,000 containers, or 60,000 tonnes, of Vietnamese durian this year to meet the demand in the Chinese market—three times the amount I import from Thailand,” revealed Wang, founder of TWT Supply China, which boasts a network of over 3,000 self-owned and contracted truckers across the country.
Durian has swiftly become China’s most popular imported fruit. Despite strict import controls during the pandemic, China imported around four times more durian in 2022 compared to 2017, resulting in a total value exceeding $4 billion.
“Last year, China imported over 820,000 tonnes of durians. I’m highly confident that the import total will easily reach or surpass 900,000 tonnes this year,” stated Wang, who has been importing durian from Thailand for eight years.
For years, Thai durians have dominated the Chinese market, but their supremacy is now being challenged by increasing inflows from Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries. Malaysia and the Philippines are also looking to expand their durian exports to China.
“While imports from Thailand are expected to grow steadily this year, the market share of Vietnamese durians in China will also explode,” Wang predicted. He added that in 2022, 780,000 tonnes of China’s durian imports originated from Thailand.
One Chinese fruit retailer explained, “Thai durians are expensive, but they’re tastier and plumper, while Vietnamese durians are quickly gaining popularity due to their lower prices.”
Wang similarly noted that Vietnamese durians are approximately 15% cheaper than Thai durians. The growing market potential for durian in China has prompted cities in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which shares a border with Vietnam, to enhance logistics to facilitate imports from their neighboring country.
Chongzuo, a border city in Guangxi, is constructing an advanced logistics center equipped with cold-chain storage and food-processing facilities to streamline the import process, revealed Liu Yeke, deputy director of the city’s development and reform bureau. The first phase of investment, totaling around 1.8 billion yuan ($254 million), is expected to be operational by 2025.
These infrastructure improvements will enable Vietnamese durians to reach all parts of China within one to three days, according to local officials and traders who anticipate a further rise in durian consumption as a result.
Since April, two cross-border freight trains per day have been transporting Vietnamese fruits through the border town of Pingxiang, which is under the administration of Chongzuo, shared Huang Wenhan, a cargo supervisor with the Pingxiang branch of China Railway Nanning Bureau Group. Huang noted that most of the transported fruits consist of durians and mangosteens, as they are the most profitable among tropical fruits.
Entry formalities typically take just one or two hours, after which the fruit is loaded onto cold-chain trucks that can reach supermarkets across the country in under three days, Huang added.
Chen Xiao, director of Dongxing Port Service Centre in Guangxi, also anticipates substantial growth in durian imports from Vietnam this year. He revealed that while the port had mainly focused on seafood imports in the past, durian imports have been rapidly increasing this year. Dongxing Port, connected to Mong Cai in Vietnam by two bridges spanning the Beilun River on the border, now witnesses dozens of large trucks filled with durians entering the port every day.
Rog Chau, a Vietnamese fruit farmer near Ho Chi Minh City, mentioned that the Chinese have begun investing in durian farms in his hometown. “Many fruit farmers in Vietnam are shifting to durian cultivation because it is more profitable, thanks to the enormous appetite of the Chinese market,” Chau explained.
Wang, the fruit importer, also foresees the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) facilitating greater durian trade in the future. Deals made through the world’s largest trade pact could result in more ASEAN countries, such as Indonesia, becoming major durian suppliers to China.
