According to EastFruit analysts, China reduced its imports of durian by 5% in 2022 for the first time in many years. This indicates problems in the country’s economy and a likely decrease in the income level of the population since durian is a trendy and expensive fruit for the Chinese, on which they spend billions of US dollars annually. Durian imports to China amounted to 767 000 tonnes in the first 11 months of 2022, which is 42 000 tonnes less than in the same period in 2021.
The global market for durian is driven almost exclusively by supplies to China. China spent more than $4 billion importing fresh durian into the country in 2021. In terms of value, durian has been and remains TOP-1 among fruits imported to China, ahead of trendy and quite expensive cherries.
We wrote about how the Chinese fell in love with durian, an exotic fruit that smells like a mixture of rotten onions, rotten fish, and sewage, in this article. Almost all durian is supplied to China by one country – Thailand. In 2022, there was an upward trend in the share of durian imports from Vietnam.
Not surprisingly, the other largest durian-importing countries are those where many ethnic Chinese live – Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Macau, Malaysia, and the United States.
In addition to Thailand, the largest exporters of durian are Vietnam and Malaysia. Other countries export relatively small volumes of these unusual fruits.
For more information: east-fruit.com