Agriculture & Food

In January of this year, China and the Philippines signed a protocol on the requirements for plant quarantine of fresh durians imported from the Philippines to China, making the Philippines the third country to allow fresh durians to enter the Chinese market after Thailand and Vietnam. At present, the upcoming entry of Durian from the Philippines into China has triggered heated discussions and expectations in the market. "The import boom in durian international trade has become an increasingly noticeable phenomenon in the past five to six years. Since 2019, China has imported more fresh durians than cherries;"; In 2022, the total international trade import volume of durian was 825000 tons, with an import value of 4.03 billion US dollars. Why did some foreign trade enterprises still lament the poor business of importing durian and withdraw from this field in 2014, but within a few years it has become so popular?

In fact, this huge change is the result of a combination of multiple factors.

What needs to be introduced first is the growth process and import process of durian. Durian grows in tropical regions with high temperatures, and countries such as Thailand and Malaysia in Southeast Asia are the main production areas. Durian has high requirements for various conditions required for cultivation, and its quality is also divided into many grades. The taste and price of different grades of durian vary greatly. These have become high barriers for the circulation and foreign trade of durian. Importers from China introduced that when they plan to purchase Durian from Southeast Asia, they should not only learn to identify different grades of Durian, select suitable varieties from multiple origins, but also consider how to ensure that the product does not deteriorate during long-distance transportation. Although it is possible to ship and transport durian before it is ripe, as some fruits do, the requirements for temperature and humidity are relatively high during transportation. It is also very knowledgeable to know exactly when it is ripe to pick and transport durian. According to the calculation of the entire process, international trade imports require a high level of effort and cost, as well as significant losses and risks in the process. To put it plainly, it is necessary to pay a lot of "tuition fees" to do the durian import business. This high threshold and difficulty make durian imports wait for a long time to accumulate.

At the same time, the import boom in durian international trade in recent years has been related to several favorable factors. For example, Chinese consumers have improved their consumption ability. Even if a single durian sells for more than 200 yuan, some people are willing to buy it. Merchants will also split the durian into small packages, making it easier to expand sales, making the consumption of durian not only considerable in cities such as Shenzhen in South China, but also better developed in first-tier cities such as Beijing. For example, the phenomenon of interest consumption and enthusiast payment in the vertical segmentation of Chinese society has become a trend. Although durian, a small group of fruit that is "loved by lovers and hated by haters", cannot become a common love among the public, there is ultimately a group of enthusiasts who buy favorite foods, which is sufficient to support a large market space. There is also the convenience brought by the improvement of cross-border logistics conditions and the shortening of transportation time. Some shipping companies have even launched the Durian Express Line, and both Wanhai Shipping and Evergreen Shipping opened the Durian Express Line in 2022. Moreover, railway transportation and air transportation (some high-end durians can bear the cost of air transportation) have accelerated transportation speed, shortened transit time, and provided greater protection for the quality of durians. Although this cannot be compared to the quality of durian harvested after ripening and consumed without cross-border transportation, it has been significantly improved compared to the past. Last year, Vietnam's fresh durian was approved to enter China, and earlier this year, the Philippines' fresh durian was approved to enter China. China's durian international trade imports have a richer source of goods.

The improvement in the comprehensive service guarantee ability of durian trade is not only reflected in the cross-border logistics field, but also evident in the comprehensive ability of importers. In their attempts to import durians, Chinese enterprises and businessmen have already broken through the scope of "procurement" and developed into planting durians locally in Southeast Asia, or ordering durians from local farmers in advance during the growth period and agreeing on picking times. According to industry feedback, some Chinese fruit importing enterprises have even gradually developed into enterprises that use durian as their main source of profit. This will encourage some enterprises to further increase their investment in understanding durian and achieve a higher level of durian import business. In this process, the strength, vision, refinement, and professionalism of Chinese importers have significantly improved.

Therefore, it can be seen that the import boom in durian international trade in the past five to six years up to now is a good result of the accumulation and deep cultivation of the entire industry and the entire industrial chain, and also reflects the obvious gradual improvement and upgrading of the quality of relevant Chinese importers. The explosion of durian not only indicates that there is a large market for highly priced fruits among the small and deep farmers, but also indicates that refined and specialized imports have great potential and added value, and can even significantly reduce trade costs, reduce trade barriers, and promote cross-border trade of related products. The example of durian import overcoming numerous difficulties and developing into a hot and big business has also inspired other foreign trade enterprises to believe that a foreign trade business that cannot be done or cannot be done well at present does not always lack opportunities. With the development and changes of subjective and objective environments, conditions, and opportunities, there are still many possibilities in the future.