Vietnamese durian strives to stand firmly in the Chinese market

From the story that unites cooperative groups

Mr. Nong Van Canh is a famous durian farmer in Phu Rieng district, Binh Phuoc province. More than two years ago, when he understood China’s durian import requirements, he was determined to gather close producers to have a total area of ​​30ha to grow durian – this is one of the factors prerequisite for being granted a production unit code.

Nong Van Canh durian cooperative group was born from there. In recent days, when there was information that durian was becoming more challenging to sell, we contacted Mr. Canh to get more information about the current production. Mr. Canh happily said: “Our output for this crop is expected to be 230 tons. This year’s price is also good, so we expect a profit of about 25%-30%.”

Once a cooperative group is established, it buys common input materials and commits to selling with the buyer at a standard price from the beginning of the season. The producer only needs to focus on caring for his durian garden to make it lush.

However, Mr. Canh shared that establishing cooperative groups takes work.

“Many people also want to pool together, but many production households have previously bought agricultural materials on credit, so they cannot buy them together. Furthermore, the market price is high if they can buy inputs together when they sell them for more than the initial signed price; there is also the phenomenon of ‘breaking the deal’ to sell to the high bidder,” Mr. Canh said.

The Binh Phuoc Department of Agriculture and Rural Development recognizes that durian is one of the crops bringing high economic efficiency. The province’s total area of ​​durian trees is over 5,300ha, mainly two varieties, Ri 6 and Dona. Binh Phuoc has 65 durian production unit codes issued with a total area of ​​more than 2,412ha. To obtain the current production unit code, the agricultural sector and durian growers in the province have tried cultivating durian trees to meet official export requirements.

Mr. Tran Van Phuong, Deputy Director of the Binh Phuoc Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said: “The production unit code is both a passport to bring agricultural products to the international market and ensures the rights of honest farmers. To contribute to promoting information-transparent agriculture and ensuring competitiveness in the international market to sustainably develop the durian industry chain, gardeners need to comply with the process. The province is focusing on calling for business Enterprises to invest in the processing sector, contributing to increasing the value chain, and farmers will benefit.”

According to the project to restructure the agricultural sector in Binh Phuoc province for 2021 – 2025, the general goal is to develop sustainable agriculture, improve quality-added value, and increase income for farmers, producers, and product competitiveness, to build large-scale concentrated commodity agriculture, applying advanced and modern technology, promoting the development of clean agriculture, organic agriculture, high-tech agriculture, and circular agriculture associated with market demand.

Accordingly, Binh Phuoc province aims to develop a durian growing area of 8,000 – 10,000ha in the direction of high-tech agriculture, chain links, and product supply for export.

Follow market signals closely

After the Protocol was signed between Vietnam and China, durian export turnover in the first quarter of 2024 is estimated to reach USD 254 million, up 66% over the same period last year, which is a perfect sign for the Vietnamese durian industry.

However, from September 2023 until now, the Plant Protection Department (MARD) has sent three documents warning the Chinese market of eight durian production unit codes and four durian packing house codes in the market province.

Data from the MARD shows that currently, Vietnam has 708 production unit codes with more than 26,000ha and 168 packing house codes.

However, the proportion of supervised growing areas is only 52%, and supervised packaging facilities are 47.6%. There are 187 warning codes, including 115 production unit codes and 72 packaging house codes, of which 35 production unit codes and 29 packaging house codes have been violated multiple times.

Therefore, the agricultural industry’s orientation towards durian is reorganizing the structure, which must link farmers with businesses. For durian production unit codes, the MARD will issue a document requiring standards and regulations to be implemented, eliminating spontaneous situations.

The Southern Horticultural Research Institute recommend that durian export packing points need to improve post-harvest handling processes. Meanwhile, Vietnam needs a set of national standards for durian fruit circulating on the market, including export.

If you want the actors in the fruit value chain, generally and durian, to be well linked, strict standards and sanctions must be ensured. It is necessary to organize the production chain from the growing area to the packaging facility, the plant treatment and quarantine facility to the exporting enterprise to create quality products that meet plant quarantine standards, animals, and food safety.

The Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association said Thailand is the largest market supplying fresh durian to China. Still, Thailand’s durian exports to China decreased because heat and drought affected harvest output.

Vietnam is the second largest market supplying fresh durian to China. Notably, China sharply increased imports of fresh durian from the Vietnamese market in the first four months of 2024, reaching 79.3 thousand tons, worth USD 369.8 million, an increase of 91.% in volume and an increase of 81.0%. 9% in value compared to the same period in 2023, accounting for 39.2% of China’s total fresh durian imports, an increase of 25.9% over the same period in 2023.

Vietnamese durian is considered to have the advantage of abundant output, being harvested all year round, especially when in season, not competing with Thai durian. In addition, an advantage of Vietnamese durian when exported to China is fast shipping time and competitive price.

These factors helped Vietnamese durian make great strides in the Chinese market after less than two years of opening in this market. Durian is also the primary export fruit in Vietnam’s export fruit structure. Promoting the export of this type of fruit will promote positive growth of Vietnam’s fruit exports in 2024.