Vietnam has shipped approximately 2.22 billion USD worth of durian products overseas in 2023, with increasing demand noticed in non-traditional markets.

As of the end of November, the export turnovers of fresh and frozen durian amounted to over 2 billion USD and nearly 130 million USD, respectively.

China made up 2 billion USD of the total January-November exports, up over 1.5% year-on-year. The Czech Republic spent 10 million USD on Vietnamese durians in the period, an annual growth of over 28.19%, while the expenditures of Canada, the US, and Papua New Guinea ranged between 4 and 6 million USD, soaring from 222 to 837% against  last year. Thai people, meanwhile, was the biggest consumer of frozen durian products from Vietnam with a total spending of 97 million USD in the 11 months.

The Vietnamese fruit has a competitive edge thanks to its high quality, affordable costs, and year-round harvest. In the last two months of this year, while all other sources worldwide have run out of supplies, Vietnam still raked in 90 and 50 million USD from the respective November and December exports of the product.

In the Southeast Asian nation, durians are planted across the south and Central Highlands region, hence a harvest season spanning from April to December. With good cultivation techniques, off-season fruiting is also common in some places. Thailand, Vietnam’s main competitor in this area, mostly harvest its durians between July and September. 

Dang Phuc Nguyen, General Secretary of Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association (Vinafruit), predicted the durian sector to earn between 1 and 1.5 billion more USD from overseas shipments next year.

VNA