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Ralph Jennings

Laos has received approval to begin exporting fresh durians to China, becoming the latest Southeast Asian nation to vie for a slice of the vast Chinese market for the tropical fruit.
China’s General Administration of Customs said on its website that Laos was given clearance to begin exports from this past Friday as long as its shipments met phytosanitary standards.
Laos could emerge as a challenger in China’s increasingly crowded durian market, as it benefits from cheap labour, logistical advantages and strong political ties with Beijing, analysts said.
Companies in Laos should be able to keep prices of the normally expensive fruit low thanks to the country’s cheap land and labour, as well as a recently opened railway connecting the Laotian capital, Vientiane, with Kunming in southwestern China.
“The most important thing is the logistics, and then the labour,” said Lim Chin Khee, an adviser to the Durian Academy, a Malaysian institution that trains growers.
The flavour of durians from Laos will vary little from those grown in neighbouring countries like Thailand and Vietnam – which currently lead the way in the Chinese market – as rainfall patterns in the countries are similar, Lim added.
More than 90 per cent of all durian exports end up in China, where the spiky, odiferous fruit is so highly prized that it is often gifted at formal events such as weddings. A single durian weighing 6kg (13lbs) fetches as much as 200 yuan (US$28) in the country.
China’s durian imports reached a record US$6.99 billion last year, according to Chinese customs data. About 57 per cent of those imports came from Thailand, while Vietnam accounted for 38 per cent. Cambodia, Malaysia and the Philippines shipped smaller volumes.


Beijing has been using the trade to forge closer ties with Southeast Asian nations for years – a strategy some analysts have dubbed “durian diplomacy” – and the region has become even more important to China as relations with the United States have grown thornier.
During a visit to Laos in October 2024, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said Beijing would keep working with Vientiane to transform the country from a landlocked to a “land-linked” nation through its Belt and Road Initiative.
China was helping Laos export more agricultural products via the direct rail corridor between Vientiane and Kunming, said Rajiv Biswas, CEO of the Singapore-based research firm Asia-Pacific Economics.
“The decision by China to allow Laos to export fresh durians to the Chinese market will further strengthen Laos-China bilateral trade ties as well as wider China-Asean ties in agricultural trade,” Biswas said, referring to the 11-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations bloc.
“The approval by China marks an important strengthening of Laotian access to the vast Chinese consumer market for agricultural products,” he added.
Durian growers in Laos had been “exploring opportunities to enter the Chinese market” in 2024, the Lao News Agency reported. But they still need to learn more about the trade to scale it up, according to Lim.
Laos has ambitions to rapidly grow its durian industry. The country currently has 20,000 hectares (49,400 acres) of durian farms, with 10,000 trees having already borne fruit. By 2029, it aims to harvest about 270,000 durian trees yielding 24,300 tonnes of durians, according to domestic media reports.


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China’s durian market - the world’s largest - is becoming a battleground for countries in Southeast Asia eager to get their slice of the proceeds. Photo: AFP

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Laos could present a real challenge to other players in China’s vast durian market due to its low costs and logistical advantages


Laos could present a real challenge to other players in China’s vast durian market due to its low costs and logistical advantages.


Laos cleared to export fresh durians to China as Malaysia, Thailand face new rival

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Laos could present a real challenge to other players in China’s vast durian market due to its low costs and logistical advantages

Laos could present a real challenge to other players in China’s vast durian market due to its low costs and logistical advantages