The Chinese love for durian has a long history. 600 years ago, when Zheng He went to the South Seas, his adjutant recorded durian in the "Yingya Shenglan", calling it "gambling eryan" (thorny fruit), although it smelled "like the smell of stinky beef", but it tasted "very sweet and beautiful".
It can be seen that the unique taste of durian by Chinese has been recognized as early as the Ming Dynasty and continues to this day.
Today, durian has become the "only favorite" in the Chinese market, and has even changed the pattern of global durian consumption. Data shows that China consumes more than 90% of the world's durian every year.
In 2019, fresh durian surpassed cherries to become China's "king of imported fruits". By 2023, both the scale and value of imported durian will hit a record high.
Durian is not only a favorite fruit of Chinese, but also an important product of trade between China and Southeast Asian countries.
When leaders of Southeast Asian countries come to China, they will vigorously promote their own durian varieties in an attempt to promote economic cooperation through "durian diplomacy". The huge demand for durian in the Chinese market has even changed the agricultural structure in Southeast Asia, with many countries converting large numbers of rice fields to durian plantations.
Durian is rich in a variety of nutrients, including sugar, starch, protein, vitamins, fat, iron and calcium, etc., and is very valuable for eating. It comes with the attribute of "opening the blind box", which smells strong and pungent, but it tastes soft and glutinous, which makes lovers want to stop. Due to the different forms, some special durians are even sold at sky-high prices.
Southeast Asian durian wars
In 2019, a Thailand Kanyao durian was sold to a wealthy local businessman for 1.5 million baht (332,000 yuan). The cheapest of this durian is 20,000 baht (more than 4,000 yuan). Rare Malaysia blackthorn durian and Musang King durian are also expensive, and the price of one pound on the e-commerce platform is about 100~200 yuan.
China is the world's main consumer market for durian, with more than 1.42 million tons of fresh durian imported in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 72.85%, and an import value of 47.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 74.8%, both reaching a record high.
Less than 1% of China's 1.4 billion people have tasted durian, and the market potential is huge.
Southeast Asian countries are the main producers of durian, and Thailand, Viet Nam, the Philippines, Malaysia and other countries are actively promoting the export of durian to China. Thailand has an advantage in durian trade with China, with 65% of China's durian imports coming from Thailand, 35% from Viet Nam, and less than 1% from the Philippines in 2023.
Viet Nam's rapid rise in the "durian war", the geographical advantage of bordering China and the cross-regional two-way connection of the China-Vietnam train "railway express" have shortened the transportation time and improved the convenience of trade.
The popularity of durian has brought inspiration to China's fresh food industry. Durian is almost entirely dependent on imports, and the production area usually completes the initial standardization, and the leading players in the four Southeast Asian countries rely on stronger financial strength and channels to control production capacity, and the contract price of ordering the entire orchard is as high as 20 million yuan.
The scarcity of durians has broken down the wholesale channel of the dependency network, and companies with durian bases in Southeast Asia have formed a large-scale retail network with scarcity and high profit margins.
A hub for common economic development
At the summit to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of ASEAN-China dialogue relations, China pledged to import US$150 billion (more than 1 trillion yuan) of agricultural products from ASEAN in the next five years.
Source: Pexels
ASEAN has always been China's largest trading partner, China has a large number of goods sold in ASEAN, and various agricultural products from Southeast Asia are also sold domestically.
In the first half of 2024, the total value of trade between China and ASEAN was 3.36 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.5%, accounting for 15.9% of the total foreign trade value.
Durian plays an important role in the economic cooperation between China and Southeast Asian countries, and has become a link for common economic development.
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