Frozen durian exports may reach $300 million in 2025. Photo: ST

Great potential

The signing of the Protocol on inspection, quarantine and food safety for frozen durian exported from Vietnam to China will pave the way for frozen durian products to be officially exported to the Chinese market. This is actual good news for farmers, cooperatives and enterprises in the durian industry chain.

Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen, General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, said that the Chinese market accounts for 2/3 of Vietnam's fruit and vegetable export volume and still bears a lot of potential as the country's GDP is increasing. In addition, Vietnam benefits from its favourable geographical location to gain price priority in terms of logistics costs and transportation time.

Mr. Nguyen analyzed that in 2023, China imported nearly 6.7 billion USD of fresh durian, more than 1 billion USD of frozen durian (accounting for 10-15%). What is special is that frozen durian has a lot of potential in the future when the consumption of fresh durian leaves a burden of waste, the edible part only accounts for 30-35%, the rest is the shell and seeds. “The Chinese and world markets tend to prefer frozen durian with separated segments because it is very convenient to use. If businesses are preparing necessary facilities to make frozen durian, then in the future, when the market demand is high, they can timely convert from fresh to frozen to meet the demands" - Mr. Nguyen said.

In the immediate future, with China's import of 1 billion USD of frozen durian in 2023, mainly from Thailand and Malaysia, it is forecasted that Vietnam's frozen durian will beable to reach a turnover of 300 million USD in 2025 and will gradually increase due to more demand and ongoing eating durian from Chinese market. Another positive point of exporting frozen durian is the reduction of the backlog of goods during the main season. The amount of goods not sold fresh can be transferred to processing, which enables to regulate output to stabilize prices, increasing income for farmers and businesses.

Another special point is that freezing products will help businesses make the most of raw materials. Because frozen durian focuses on the quality of the flesh instead of external appearance requierments like fresh products. Therefore, those that do not meet the requirements in terms of appearance or size, businesses can separate and freeze the segments, easily consuming all the durian produced.

Sharing with the press recently, Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Joint Stock Company, expressed his confidence in the global exporting prospects, not just to the Chinese market. Because Hoang Anh Gia Lai has made serious investments in the quality of growing areas. In particular, the durian growing area in Laos has an area of ​​1,200 hectares with about 200 - 300 hectares of Monthong durian being harvested. This company expects to be able to harvest 2,000 tons of durian. Many other companies such as Ban Me Green Farm Joint Stock Company, Chanh Thu Import-Export Company Limited... have also long prepared for factories and certified cold storages to export to demanding markets.

Ms. Ngo Tuong Vy, General Director of Chanh Thu Import-Export Company Limited, said that the recently signed Protocol on frozen durian is something that both Vietnamese and Chinese export enterprises have been waiting for a long time. To export frozen durian products, Chanh Thu has invested in 2 factories in Dak Lak and Ben Tre. Recently, many Chinese enterprises have contacted Chanh Thu to place orders at very good prices. It is known that Chanh Thu currently exports 7-8 containers of durian to China every day, accounting for about 70% of the company's durian export output. It is forecasted that thanks to the opening of frozen durian products, Chanh Thu products will achieve high growth in the coming time.

Ensuring sustainable development of the industry

The potential and opportunities are huge, but Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen also emphasized that frozen durian is a game of technology. "Whoever has good technology will gain a large market share" - Mr. Nguyen affirmed. Previously, it took up to 8 hours to freeze a 40-foot container of durian to the minus 18 degree standard, because it had to be put into a cold storage to cool slowly. However, the current nitrogen cooling technology has shortened to just 1 hour. However, when using this technology, businesses also need to calculate the nitrogen supply to serve the freezing of durian for export.

In fact, in recent times, Vietnam has exported frozen durian to many markets such as the US, EU, Japan, Australia, Thailand, etc. in the form of whole fruit freezing or segmented fruit freezing. However, in recent times, some gardeners and traders have been chasing profits while ignoring quality issues, selling durians before they reach maturity. This is a huge risk for the durian industry.

Therefore, the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association as well as many enterprises believe that immediate measures to control, sanction or issue strict laws and heavy penalties for the act of harvesting young durian for export is very necessary for the development of this industry. The Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association also recommends that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development organize training courses on techniques for planting and caring for durian trees according to GAP standards for gardeners as well as packaging and classification techniques for export units. Besides, it is necessary to issue practice certificates for workers who pick and classify the fruit to improve the quality of durian. By doing this, it will be very possible for Vietnamese durian to dominate the market share in China, helping to increase the export turnover of this product.