Indonesia seeks to export durian directly to China

The main obstacles for Indonesian durian exports to China are logistics and access issues. Due to the long distance, the time required to transport fresh durians from Indonesia to China is longer than from Thailand, which affects the quality of the durians. If durians can be transported directly from Pantoloan Port on Sulawesi Island to China, the transportation time can be reduced to one week, and the transportation cost is also expected to be halved.

In the first half of this year, Indonesian frozen durians were approved for export to China, and the General Administration of Customs has completed inspections of Indonesian durian plantations and packaging factories. Currently, the Indonesian durian industry is focusing on solving logistics problems in preparation for exports to China.

Sudaryono, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Indonesia, revealed that after a recent meeting with the Minister of Agriculture of China, Indonesia is actively seeking opportunities for direct exports to China. The focus of the talks was on how to bypass traditional transit channels such as Thailand and Malaysia, especially in the durian trade.

It is understood that Indonesian durians have always been exported to Thailand first, and then re-exported to China, with Indonesia's profit being only around 10%. If they can be directly exported to China, the profit could be as high as 30%.