Recently, large volumes of fruit have become available. Although the price of fruit produced locally has generally risen, the price of imported fruit on the market has fallen. According to the United Nations Trade Database, China imported nearly 350,000 tons of durian in 2017, most of which were from Thailand, while imports from Malaysia accounted for less than 1%. Malaysia naturally wants to seize this business opportunity in the huge Chinese market.
In August 2018, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir signed a phytosanitary protocol with China for exporting frozen durian from Malaysia to China during his visit to China. Since then, Malaysia has been able to sell whole durian fruit to China. Later on, the Malaysian Ministry of Agriculture called on palm plantations to switch to durian cultivation, as durian is more profitable than palm. In April 2019, Malaysia's largest palm oil company removed 1,398 hectares of palm trees to plant durian for the Chinese market, hoping to increase revenue.
“At the beginning of this season, due to a limited supply, the price of durian was very high. However, the harvest is good thanks to the favorable weather, and we have now entered the peak marketing season, resulting in the supply to increase and the price to drop,” local durian fruit trader Tan Chee Wei, who has been trading for many years told Malaysia’s “New Straits Times." According to his many years of experience, the supply of durian is expected to decline from August, when the price will rise again. “The supply of durian depends on the local harvest, so I always advise my customers not to wait until the end of the season to buy them,” he said.
Source: Wanguo Fengyunhui