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Ralph Jennings

Indonesia’s intent to export durians directly to China in search of higher profits will hinge on mastering the sanitary standards and cold-chain storage that intermediary countries have provided to date, analysts said.
Sudaryono, deputy agriculture minister of the Southeast Asian archipelago, has announced that Indonesia is “actively seeking opportunities” to export directly to China as a way of increasing profits from an average of 10 to 30 per cent, the national news agency Antara reported earlier this month.
Indonesia must perfect its sanitation standards to keep the giant, spiky, pungent and lucrative fruits cold enough to reach China without being bounced back, analysts said.
Indonesia began exporting fresh durians to China earlier this year, making it a relative newcomer in Southeast Asia after Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. China consumes more than 90 per cent of all durians produced in the world.
So far, Malaysia and Thailand have been receiving Indonesian durians on their way to China and helping growers with phytosanitary approvals required by Chinese authorities and large-scale and long-term refrigeration, known as cold-chain storage, analysts said.
“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,” said Jayant Menon, a trade-specialised visiting senior fellow with the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute research organisation in Singapore.


“Indonesia has also lacked cold chain logistics and freezing capacity to ensure freshness in the past, but this is also changing,” Menon said. “It is likely that Indonesia will soon be able to export directly to China and thereby increase profit margins on durian trade.”
The Antara report said Sudaryono had recently met with a counterpart from China to discuss the potential for direct export arrangements.
This year, Chinese authorities tightened their oversight of imported Vietnamese durians after finding high levels of two potentially harmful substances, setting back growers in Vietnam some three years after exports to China began. Vietnamese growers now conduct tests locally before their fruits reach China.
Indonesian durian growers need two more years to develop the infrastructure that ensures compliance with Chinese import rules, said Mohamad Reza Tirtawinata, director of the Nusantara Durian Foundation.
“We don’t have the necessary certificates to export all of them,” Tirtawinata said. Giving one example, he said, “starting from the garden, it’s got to be certified as pesticide free”.
Most plantations in the populous Indonesian archipelago cover just five to 10 hectares (12 to 29.6 acres), far below what China requires, Tirtawinata said. Durian testing, packing and shipping facilities also need improvements, he added.

Indonesian durians grow in the wild rather than on plantations, making it hard to apply unified quality standards, Tirtawinata has previously said. In one sign of change, he noted that small durian growers in Central Sulawesi province were trying to enlarge their plantations by cooperating with one another.
However, consumers may ultimately pay more for Indonesian durians because of the longer shipping distances compared to source countries in continental Southeast Asia, experts said.
A 6kg (13.2lbs) durian can fetch as much as 200 yuan (US$28) in China. The fruits are popular with middle-class families, dessert makers and gift givers at formal occasions such as weddings.
Parts of Indonesia have the conditions to produce the premium Musang King variety of durian, a type often championed by Malaysian growers, said Ajmain Bin Kasim, chief technical officer with Malaysia-based durian confectionery maker DSR Taiko Berhad.
Indonesia’s “topography is also different, so that gives you different flavours and different texture”, the technical officer said from his booth at a Southeast Asian farm produce exposition last week in Kuala Lumpur.


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Indonesia’s bid to ship durians straight to China rides on refrigeration, sanitation

Indonesia seeks to get a cut of the action by exporting durians to China, but it must meet strict sanitary and storage conditions to ensure the ‘king of fruit’ arrives in perfect condition. Photo: DPA 

Chinese customs officers, seen here examining salmon imports, have tightened their checks on durians brought in from Vietnam after discovering high levels of potentially harmful substances. Photo: Xinhua

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Vice-President Han Zheng visits the China-Asean Expo in Nanning on Wednesday. Photo: Xinhua

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A local vendor prepares his morning store for selling durian fruits at a sidewalk in Chhuk Var village outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on July 22. Photo: AP 

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Durian imports fell by almost a third in the first five months of this year. Photo: Shutterstock

Visitors check out Vietnamese durians at the China-Asean Expo in Nanning, capital of southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, in September last year. Photo: CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images

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Visitors view durian products from Vietnam at the 21st China-Asean Expo in Nanning, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, September 28, 2024. Photo: CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images

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Jakarta seeks to weigh into the lucrative industry but must refine its cold-chain storage to ensure fruits arrive in perfect condition


Jakarta seeks to weigh into the lucrative industry but must refine its cold-chain storage to ensure fruits arrive in perfect condition.


Indonesia’s bid to ship durians straight to China rides on refrigeration, sanitation

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Jakarta seeks to weigh into the lucrative industry but must refine its cold-chain storage to ensure fruits arrive in perfect condition

Jakarta seeks to weigh into the lucrative industry but must refine its cold-chain storage to ensure fruits arrive in perfect condition