A Chinese partnership has secured a deal to purchase 5,000 containers of fresh and frozen durian from one of Thailand’s major durian exporters. The fresh durian alone is worth more than $10 billion (£5 billion).
When Queen Frozen Fruit Co., Ltd. and a group of Chinese state firms signed a cooperation agreement, Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Prapat Pothasuthon was there to witness the event. Queen Frozen Fruit and the Chinese government have reached an agreement on the company’s durian exports.
According to the deputy minister, the deal confirms orders for Thai durians that will be sent to China, giving farmers confidence that there will not be an excess supply of the fruits and that sales would continue to be profitable.
The Chinese consortium is purchasing 10,000,000,000 baht worth of durian over 3,000 fresh and 2,000 frozen containers. Betel nuts, shellfish, rose apples, and coconuts are among items that the group of Chinese state-owned businesses has indicated an interest in purchasing.
In order to facilitate the export of the consortium’s desired commodities, the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives will act swiftly to cooperate with the required authorities.
The chairperson of Queen Frozen Fruit Co., Ltd., Waranyaphak Simahatthanawekhin, recently stated that no fewer than 600 containers of Thai durians are imported into China every day due to the high demand from Chinese customers. Mon Thong, Kan Yao, and, more recently, Nam Dam are three varieties of durian that have proven to be hits with Chinese customers.
According to the chair, if orchard growers increase the area dedicated to growing Nam Dam durian, Thailand would be able to export a wider variety of durians. She went on to say that her firm has received orders from China totaling over 200,000 metric tons of durian for 2023.
