"Due to more rainfall this year in Thailand, the ripening of durian has been delayed for one month, but the yields of durian are expected to increase. Last year, due to the drought in east Thailand, the output decreased by 20% to 30%. However, the trees had good rest and therefore the fruit set percentage will be very high this year," said Mr. Chao Wen from "Wenji Durian".
Mr. Chao Wen, founder of Wenji Durian
A few months ago, because of the small output, the prices of Thai durian in the Chinese wholesale markets were soaring and reached 800 yuan at one point. KradumThong durian, which normally enters China in March, is one of the major varieties exported to China in large quantities.
"Excessive rainfall this year has delayed the ripening of durian. In order to get quality durian, we have already postponed our harvest three times. I started as a retailer, so I know about customer preference for durian and thus I focus on our product quality. To look for the right durian varieties back then, I tried all the durians available in the market of Mainland China and Hong Kong, which were mainly from Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Later I slowly switched into a supply chain service provider and started my own brand and factory. I always do the tasting myself when purchasing, sending or receiving every batch of durian. It's like cooking, so every detail counts. There are usually 4800 durian units in a container, and I must have tasted more than one whole container when I was still a retailer. A few days ago, our batch of KradumThong durian were sold out shortly after they arrived at the local market in China, " said Mr. Wen proudly.
KradumThong variety has in general 4 or 5 pieces of flesh in the shape of petals. As one of the sweetest varieties the flesh is yellow and creamy. KradumThong is also a very old durian variety.