China and Malaysia are in talks about opening the former country’s enormous market to exports of the latter’s fresh durians, as appetites for these fruits grow. Chan Foong Hin, Malaysia’s deputy minister of agriculture and food security, said via Facebook on Monday that his department met a Chinese customs delegation in Malaysia on October 5 and signed a six-point statement covering durians.
“The Chinese side agrees to speed up its risk assessment of Malaysian fresh durian, and both sides will cooperate on promoting quarantine inspection work,” the statement read.
Nor Sam Alwi, deputy director general of the Malaysian Department of Agriculture, has expressed hopes for approval next year to coincide with the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations with China, according to Malaysian media reports.
Chinese authorities gave the go-ahead to shipments of frozen durian pulp from Malaysia in 2017, and whole frozen fruits in 2019. Nearly all the durian consumed in China is imported.
Source: scmp.com