Indonesia wants to export more durians to world’s largest consumer, China

SINGAPORE: Indonesia is looking to bring more durians into China, the country that consumes the largest number of Southeast Asia’s King of Fruits. However, challenges remain because of the distance between the two countries.

The longer it takes for durians to get from Indonesia to China, the more the quality of the fruit suffers, and Indonesia has been seeking solutions to shorten transport time, increase the volume of exported fruit, and, as a result, increase profits.

China, which consumes over 90% of durians produced across the globe, imports the fruit from Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia. Indonesia only joined their ranks earlier this year.

Record high

Earlier this month, Indonesia’s Central Statistics Agency said that the country was able to produce almost 2 million metric tons of durians in 2024. This marked a five-year high for the country.

However, it was only able to export 600 metric tonnes of the fruit, which brought in US$1.8 million (S$2.33 million).

Moreover, much of the fruit eventually went to Thailand and Hong Kong, due to their relative nearness to Indonesia.

According to a Chinese produce report, logistics and market access issues are the main challenges that Indonesian durian exporters face. For example, shipping durians to China takes longer than it takes from Thailand.

However, if the fruit could be shipped directly from the port of Pantoloan in Central Sulawesi to China, this would mean that transporting the fruit would only take one week, and the cost of transport would be cut in half.

The Chinese Minister of Agriculture recently met with the Indonesian Deputy Agriculture Minister, B Sudaryono, to explore direct exports to China. The meetings looked into ways of bypassing traditional re-export channels, such as Malaysia and Thailand, particularly for exporting durians.

Higher profit

The produce report added that with durian from Indonesia being exported to Thailand before being brought into China, the former country only saw around 10% in profit. However, with a more direct means of exporting, Indonesia could see profits of as much as 30%.

Meanwhile, an Oct 17 report in the South China Morning Post quoted experts as saying that Indonesia’s success in its efforts to export durians directly to China depends on whether the country can match the cold-chain storage and sanitary standards that intermediary countries have set.

However, trade-specialised visiting senior fellow with the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute research organisation in Singapore, Jayant Menon, told SCMP, “Indonesia has been working on improving certification processes and may no longer need to rely on these [other Southeast Asian] countries to get access to the Chinese market and satisfy Chinese customs.

“Indonesia has also lacked cold chain logistics and freezing capacity to ensure freshness in the past, but this is also changing. It is likely that Indonesia will soon be able to export directly to China and thereby increase profit margins on durian trade.”

The report added that the Chinese can pay as much as 200 yuan (S$36.31) for a 6-kilo durian. /TISG

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