There is only one harvest each year, but Thailand aspires to earn 27 billion USD from durian exports. Thai people are determined to maintain the number 1 position in the Chinese durian market, and at the same time bring goods to Vietnam.
Thailand is ‘aggressive’ with exports
Thai durian has just begun to harvest this year. Immediately, this Thai fruit flooded the Vietnamese market. On online markets, Fumani durians – mini Thai durians weighing from 0.6-1.8kg/fruit – are listed for sale at prices ranging from 95,000-150,000 VND/kg, depending on the type.
Compared to the general level, Thai durian prices are cheaper than Vietnamese Ri6 and Monthong durians. This is also the reason these days, Thai durian is favored by Vietnamese consumers. Accordingly, a fruit store can consume several tons of Thai durian every day.
There are currently no specific statistics on Thai durian imports into Vietnam. However, from April to September every year, Thai durians land in the Vietnamese market, penetrating the market segment from popular to high-end.
Meanwhile, in the Chinese market, Thailand has made many moves to maintain its No. 1 position as its market share tends to decline.
The Thai Ministry of Agriculture has just instructed the Fruit Committee to meet with durian farmers, those who sort and cut durians, businessmen, sorting and packaging factory operators… to ensure durian exports Export meets China’s quality standards and GAP requirements.
Even at a Thai Cabinet meeting in early April, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin directed the country’s Ministry of Agriculture to propose regulations to establish standards for durian. The aim is to maintain the quality of Thai durian exports and prevent the sale of immature fruits.
In addition, Thailand also has a task force to handle the problem of durian smuggling from other countries for export disguised as Thai durian. This is also an action to protect this country’s durian brand.
Thai authorities said that durian consumption in the Chinese market tends to increase, predicting demand will increase to over 1 million tons in 2024. In the future, China’s durian consumption will increase. 15 times the current level, reaching about 15 million tons.
With emerging competitors in ASEAN and China itself, Thailand aims to maintain its leading position in durian exports by focusing on quality and market expansion. Thailand’s ambition is to achieve a durian export turnover of 1,000 billion Bath (about 27 billion USD) in the coming years.
This year, this number is 1 million tons, the turnover is expected to reach 130 billion Bath (about 3.51 billion USD), mainly exported to China.
Vietnam has advantages and needs to learn how to do things from the Thai people
In the race to export durian to China – the world’s largest consumer market – Vietnam has the advantage of a close geographical location, and durian is harvested all year round. Meanwhile, Thai durian only focuses on harvesting one crop lasting a few months.
However, Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen – General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association – recognizes that Thai durian is more classy and Vietnam needs to learn from their methods.
He pointed out that as soon as our country was allowed to officially export durian to China, Thailand proactively raised the quality standards of its exported durian to maintain the market.
“They have a set of quality standards for dryness, regulating harvest time for each growing area. There are measures to check goods before export. Not only checking for pests and diseases, the authorities also check the ripeness of the durian fruit,” Mr. Nguyen said. Durian must meet these standards to be allowed to export. If prematurely cut durian is discovered, in addition to destroying the shipment, the business will also be fined.
Meanwhile, we have only been able to control pests and diseases on durian fruit according to the protocol, “leaving open” quality issues such as ripeness, dryness, whether the fruit is good or bad, old or young. The quality of durian depends entirely on gardeners and traders.
Therefore, in growing areas in our country, there is still a situation where young durians are “forced” to be cut and sold to China when the price is high and there is a shortage of supply, leading to the consequence that Vietnamese products are less competitive. especially in terms of price. At the same time, it affects the reputation and brand of Vietnamese durian in the Chinese market, Mr. Nguyen said.
In fact, many export businesses report that durians are forced to cut prematurely, and when exported, the goods are returned, affecting their reputation. The situation of pushing durian prices too high makes it difficult for businesses to purchase, the supply chain is disrupted, and export orders cannot be paid…
Notably, our country’s durian area has increased to 130,000 hectares, meaning that in just a few years, durian output will double its current output. Therefore, Mr. Nguyen and other businesses believe that Vietnam needs to soon issue quality regulations and standards for durian. In addition, there needs to be sanctions to handle cases of cutting young durian for export.
If we do not strictly control quality issues, if we let it go freely and export massively, it will be easy for goods to be returned, affecting our reputation, brand, and even losing the market that it took us many years to open. When the market is unstable and output increases sharply, the story of surplus exists.
Durian prices dropped sharply
There is no longer the historical record high price of 115,000-212,000 VND/kg like before, for about 2 weeks now, durian prices have dropped sharply. Currently Ri6 durian is at 65,000-88,000 VND/kg; Monthong durian price is 85,000-115,000 VND/kg.
The reason is because durian in the southern region of our country is in the main harvest season. Thailand also started the durian season. Therefore, the amount of durian exported to the Chinese market has increased sharply, the supply is no longer as scarce as before, so the purchasing price at gardeners in our country has dropped sharply.
Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen said that the Central Highlands is dry, and the Western region is suffering from salinity and drought, affecting the productivity and quality of durian. Therefore, durian export turnover this year only reached about 3 billion USD, instead of 3.5 billion USD as previously forecast.
> See the latest durian prices
According to Pioneers’ newspaper (source article link)
