Thailand’s durian dealers fear for China exports after coronavirus surge

[webfact]

A vendor sells durian fruits at a street stall in Bangkok in May last year. Photo: AFP

 

 

● Thailand is the world’s No 1 exporter of the ‘king of fruits’, the vast majority of which go straight to China – with 575,000 tonnes shipped in 2020 alone

 

● But as coronavirus infections hit record levels, Thailand’s durian dealers are worried about a repeat of the social media scare that sent China’s Chilean cherry sales tumbling earlier this year

 

Jitsiree Thongnoi in Bangkok

 

From the moment she first tasted a Thai durian in 2006, Pan Jiao Ling knew she was on to something special. The Nanning native had come to Thailand  as an exchange student, but when she discovered what the locally grown “king of fruits” tasted like, it made her change her future plans.

 

“I was blown away,” said Pan, now 36. “The durian I had in China was nothing compared to what I’d had in Thailand. I knew I had to do something.”

 

So the Chinese national decided to stay, and since 2009 has run her own durian export business shipping fruits from Thailand’s east and south, where most are grown, to various cities around 

China.

 

Full story: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3129490/thailands-durian-dealers-fear-china-exports-after-coronavirus

 

-- © Copyright South China Morning Post 2021-04-16

 

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[ukrules]

Translation : If Thailand do a single thing to annoy China in any way then it's all over.

[RichardColeman]

4 minutes ago, webfact said:

“I was blown away,” said Pan, now 36.

Yeah, I know that feeling when you're stuck in the lift with some

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

The Nanning native had come to Thailand  as an exchange student, but when she discovered what the locally grown “king of fruits” tasted like, it made her change her future plans.

Yeah I had the same feeling... but different outcome.

[digger70]

Thailand’s durian dealers fear for China exports after coronavirus surge 

 

Maybe a good thing , than we won't have to pay the rip of prices that been charged the last few years.

[dinsdale]

Should be more here then at cheaper prices.

[thailand49]

On 4/16/2021 at 2:57 AM, dinsdale said:

Should be more here then at cheaper prices.

That is if they don't go with the Thai Business plan " charge more to make up for the loss "  ????????

[internationalism]

I haven't seen durian cheaper the last year, in comparison to previous years.

I do buy second quality at the pick of season for around 80b/kg and freeze it for the rest of year, when prices shoot to many hundred bht.

Even if export of fresh durian was lower, that was not about covid scare (fruits can be desinfected), but because very expensive air cargo at the time of the 1st wave and very long shipping time, so fruits would rot.

I would think they were processed, dried, candicised, put into sweets, ice cream.

If the price fall this year I will be able to afford to buy more.

Very occasionally I was able to get the 3rd grade for 50b, and one time I got free several fruits by the end of the market opening hours, vendors were throwing them away, they would not survive to the next day.