China’s General Administration of Customs started allowing shipments of fresh durians from Cambodia that meet food safety standards in late April following the signing of a phytosanitary protocol with Cambodia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
The ministry’s agriculture department subsequently urged durian growers, farming communities, and processing and packaging facilities to register for exports to China. It “plans to send the list of fresh durian plantations and processing and packaging factories to the Chinese side in May 2025 for review and evaluation before official exports begin,” as reported by the Khmer Times.
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A worker prepares durian for sale at a shop in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on June 17, 2021. Photo by AFP |
With the trade now greenlit, Cambodia will have to find ways to appeal to consumers in the world’s largest market for the stinky fruit, according to the South China Morning Post.
“It (Cambodia) lacks the long-standing brand recognition of Thailand’s Monthong or Malaysia’s premium Musang King,” said Lim Chin Khee, adviser at Malaysia’s Durian Academy, which trains local farmers.
Meanwhile, Chinese durian lovers are already spoiled with options supplied by other Southeast Asian countries.
China imported a record US$6.99 billion worth of durians last year, with Thailand and Vietnam accounting for 57% and 41.5% of the trade, respectively. The rest came from the Philippines and Malaysia, a recent entrant whose fruits are considered premium in the market.
Looking ahead, Cambodia could encounter competition from Indonesia, which is also preparing to export durians to China, and Laos, which is seeking entry into the market.
It will also have to contend with China’s home-grown durian industry, which, while still much smaller than those of Southeast Asian producers, is expanding quickly and attracting local investment.
Even so, Au Khak durian, a distinct variety grown mainly in Cambodia’s Kampot and Kampong Cham provinces, has already started to spark curiosity among Chinese consumers.
Zhao Yu, a 38-year-old durian enthusiast in Shanghai, said she would need time to familiarize herself with the Cambodian variety before deciding whether to add it to her usual purchases.
Lim remarked that Cambodian farmers are capable of producing durians on par with those from Malaysia, especially as cultivation improves with foreign investment and technical support, particularly from China.
Wang Wenbin, Chinese ambassador to Cambodia, also signaled strong support for the fruit during a recent farm visit organized by the Young Entrepreneurs Association of Cambodia.
“I am happy to visit a durian farm in Kampot and taste ‘Au Khak’, the best durian in the world,” he said during the trip earlier this month.
“I hope a lot more of these wonderful Cambodian durians will be exported to China in the future.”
Cambodia exported more than 12 million tons of crop products worth $5.3 billion to 95 markets in 2024, according to its agriculture ministry. Agriculture accounted for about 16.7% of the nation’s GDP.
Besides the durian deal, several other protocols were signed last month, paving the way for other Cambodian goods such as swiftlet nests and crocodiles to enter the Chinese market.
“The [agriculture] ministry anticipates that these exports will help expand Cambodia’s agricultural market, increase farmers’ incomes, and contribute to national economic growth through the agricultural sector,” said its undersecretary of state, Khim Finan.
