Thai durian growers are anticipating a positive outcome from the Laos-China Railway.

[ASEAN NOW]

 

Thailand's durian growers are looking forward to the construction of the Laos-China Railway, which they hope would help them gain access to the lucrative Chinese market.

China imports almost all of its durian, the bulk of which come from Thailand and Malaysia, despite the fact that durians have surpassed cherries as the most popular fruit imported into China.

 

Chinese customers' growing desire for the fruit resulted in the importation of 575,000 tons of fresh durian worth USD 2.3 billion last year.

 

While Laos is unlikely to grow its own fledgling durian sector quickly enough to compete with its neighbor, it can gain from countries like Thailand using the Laos-China Railway.

 

According to the Global Times, when the weather in China turns colder, most fresh Thai durians are shipped by air, which takes two days on average.

 

Fruit from Thailand is still trucked via Laos, across difficult, mountainous terrain, to the Chinese border at Boten, where it is carried to larger cities in China, when the weather permits.

 

The Laos-China Railway is considered as the ideal answer since the Covid-19 epidemic puts more and more impediments in the path of truck drivers, such as Covid-19 tests and border congestion.

 

Freight train delivery of the produce will drastically cut transportation costs and time.