Chinese cities bordering Vietnam are stepping up logistics services to ensure the supply of durian can reach any city in the country within 3 days.
China increasingly prefers Vietnamese durian
When Beijing opened the door to durian from Vietnam last September, Mr. Bob Wang jumped at the opportunity.
The fruit importer in southern China has since reached agreements with many Vietnamese durian farms with a total planting area of about 3,000 hectares.
Speaking to the South China Morning Post , Mr. Wang said his business is ordering as many durians as possible.
“If all goes well, I will import more than 3,000 containers, or 60,000 tonnes of durian from Vietnam, this year to meet the demand of the Chinese market – three times my imports from Thailand,” he said. Mr. Wang, founder of TWT Supply China, said.
According to the South China Morning Post , durian has quickly become the most popular imported fruit in China.
Despite extremely strict import control measures during the pandemic, China imported four times more durians in 2022 than in 2017, bringing the total import value to more than $4 billion. .
“Last year, China imported more than 820,000 tons of durian. I am quite confident that total imports will easily reach or exceed 900,000 tons this year,” said Mr. Wang, who imported durians from Thailand. 8 years, said.
Durian from Thailand has dominated the Chinese market for years.
But that dominance is being challenged as durian sources from Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries are on the rise, with Malaysia and the Philippines also looking to expand durian imports to China.
Efforts to consolidate logistics
“Durian imports from Thailand are expected to grow steadily this year, while Vietnam’s durian market share in China will also explode,” said Mr. Wang.
TWT boss also said that by 2022, 780,000 tons of durian imported by China will be from Thailand.
Meanwhile, a Chinese fruit retailer explained: “Thai durian is expensive but tastier and juicier, while Vietnamese durian is quickly accepted because of its cheaper price.”
Mr. Wang also agreed that Vietnamese durian is about 15% cheaper than Thai durian.
The growing market potential for durians in China has prompted cities in the Zhuang Autonomous Region in Guangxi, which borders Vietnam, to increase logistics services to facilitate the import process. export.
Liu Yeke, deputy director of the city’s development and reform office, said Chongzuo, a border city in Guangxi, is building an advanced logistics center with cold storage and food processing facilities. products to improve the import process.
Liu said the first phase of investment will reach about 1.8 billion yuan (US$254 million) and will be put into use in 2025.
The above improvements will allow Vietnamese durian to reach all regions of China within one to three days.
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