The Malaysian Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries expects the nation’s durian production to increase up to 443,000 tons by 2030. Ministry Marketing and Export Division secretary Khalid Ibrahim said the projection was based on the crop statistics from 2019.
Malaysia reportedly recorded 72,536 ha of durian cultivation that produced 384,170 tons of the fruits last year. Chief contributors to the national durian production are Pahang (89,916 tons), Johor (87,838 tons), and Sarawak (34,650 tons), with the country’s five major export destinations being Singapore, Hong Kong, the United States, China, and Vietnam.
Raub in Pahang is the main producer of the Musang King durian. This district had 11,201 ha of land cultivated with durian and a production capacity of 70,650 tons worth RM1.3 billion (€ 260 mln). Musang King (D197), D24, Durian IOI (D168) and Durian Kampung are the popular varieties grown here.
According to therakyatpost.com, the Musang King durian exported to China is of premium quality. It is brought directly from the orchard to the factory for the freezing process to maintain its quality.
In October 2019, the ministry told farmers and tourism industry players that it wanted to step up durio-tourism to attract more foreign tourists but the Covid-19 pandemic got in the way.