Many Vietnamese enterprises have won orders to ship durians to China during this Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday after the first 100-metric-ton Vietnamese durian batch was exported to the northern neighbor via official channels in September last year.

A durian purchasing company in Binh Phuoc Province, southern Vietnam, informed that it had secured an order to export 500,000 metric tons of durians to China.

Although farms in the province fail to supply the sufficient volume, the company will collect durians from other eligible farms.

Meanwhile, Van Xuan Phat Import-Export Co. Ltd. based in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday said that the company would monthly export 1,000 metric tons of durians.

Huynh Van Dung, a trader in Hanoi, said China has a plan to buy one million Vietnamese durians, which are preferred and quickly consumed in the most populous country in the world.

According to Nguyen Dinh Tung, general director of Vina T&T Group, which specializes in exporting fruits and is among the 25 Vietnamese enterprises being issued with a packaging unit code, Vina T&T and Hong Kong’s Sunwah Group had inked a contract to export Vietnamese durians to Hong Kong.

Vietnam expects to ship 90,000 metric tons, or some 4,500 containers, of fresh durians abroad this year.

Dang Phuc Nguyen, general secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, said that although Vietnam has just exported durians to China through official channels since September 2022, the country has generated some US$350 million from durian exports.

Therefore, Nguyen forecast that durians will help earn over $1 billion in export revenue in 2023.

“Durian growing areas issued with codes are entitled to higher export prices. Durians were priced at VND80,000-100,000 [$3.4-4.3] per kilogram in the Mekong Delta ahead of Tet.

“To buy durians from these areas, enterprises must put down deposits,” Nguyen added.

China imported 821,600 metric tons of fresh durians worth over $4.2 billion in 2021, surging 42.7 and 82.4 percent, respectively, year on year.

It is the largest buyer of durians in the world. Thailand is currently the largest supplier of durians to China, accounting for a 40 percent market share.

Local experts forecast that the country’s durian exports will depend on China in the future.

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