Vietnam tops Thailand as biggest durian exporter to China

Vietnam has topped Thailand for the first time in durian exports to China, becoming China's biggest supplier of the fruit.

The Southeast Asian country shipped 32,750 tons of durian to China in the first two months of this year, up 2.4 times year-on-year.

According to Chinese Customs figures cited by the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, China imported 53,110 tons of fresh durian, an increase of 0.4% year-on-year.

That means Vietnam accounted for nearly 62% of China's imports, up from 32% last year.

China has purchased up to 90% of Vietnam's durian exports recently, the association said.

Thailand’s durian exports to China fell more than 50% to take second place with 19,016 tons in the first two months of the year. The Philippines has also shipped fresh durian to China, but its market share is very tiny at around 1%.

Vietnamese durian exports to China are typically priced at $4,916 per ton, less than Thailand's $6,133 per ton.

Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable exports reached over $1.2 billion in the first three months of this year, up about 26% from the same period in 2023, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Fruit and vegetable exports are expected to increase by 15-20% this year, generating $6-6.5 billion in revenue.

Dang Phuc Nguyen, general secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, said that after the visit of Chinese General Secretary and President Xi Jinping to Vietnam last December, China opened its doors to frozen durians, allowing the fruit’s export turnover to grow strongly. In July 2022, Vietnam signed an important protocol on the export of durians to China.

In 2023, Vietnam earned $5.6 billion from exporting fruits and vegetables, $3.63 billion of it to China, or 65% of the total. China spent more than $2 billion to purchase approximately 524,000 tons of durian from Vietnam, an increase of more than 11 times over the previous year.