According to the Khmer Times, on August 9, Cambodia made its first air shipment of 2 tons of fresh durian to China.
The Henan Daily reported that this batch of durian arrived at Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport in the morning of August 9, aboard Cambodia Airways flight K6894. That same afternoon, Zhengzhou Agricultural Development Group Co., Ltd. showcased this batch of durian at the first China-ASEAN Durian Food Festival in Beijing.
The event invited officials from diplomatic and trade-related institutions and entrepreneurs from China and ASEAN countries to taste over 10 varieties of durian and durian products from ASEAN countries including Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Brunei.
Currently, Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport has opened multiple Southeast Asian routes to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, greatly reducing transportation time and ensuring the freshness of agricultural products. Durian freshly picked from Cambodian orchards, after strict selection and packaging, quickly boarded the flight to Zhengzhou, with the entire journey taking only 3 days.
Buon Sarakmony, Deputy Minister of Commerce of Cambodia, said at Phnom Penh International Airport that Cambodia had previously exported fresh durian to China via sea and land transport, but this was the first time it had been exported by air. It takes about 4 hours to fly from Cambodia to Henan, and cold chain transport can maximize the freshness of the fruit.
Khim Bunlene, founder of King Durian Farm, posted on social media on Saturday, congratulating Cambodia on its first official air shipment of durian to China. With the opening of this route, and the arrival of the 2026 durian harvest season, he believes that Cambodian durian will have a broader market prospect.
In April of this year, the governments of China and Cambodia signed the "Protocol on Plant Quarantine Requirements for Fresh Durian Imported from Cambodia to China." In July, the General Administration of Customs updated the list of registered orchards and packaging factories in Cambodia for fruit imports to China, and on July 17, the first batch of 17 tons of Cambodian durian departed from Sihanoukville Port for Shenzhen.
Image source: Khmer Times; Khim Bunlene; Zhengzhou Daily 2025 International Fruit and Vegetable Report. All rights reserved. For reprints, please contact the International Fruit and Vegetable Report and credit the source.