Vietnam Durian Guide

The import tariffs for the top 5 trading partners range from 0% to 30%.

Source: ITC Market Access Map

• Durian growers tend to be mainly small scale averaging 2~3ha
  
• Traditional Value chain: Farmers contact traders to negotiate pricing from domestic market. Farmgate price is around half the domestic retail price.
  
• Traders/processing firms are the one’s responsible to bear the harvest cost.
  
• For export, food processing traders conducts pre-season contracts with farmers.
  
• Hypermarkets and major supermarkets growth have created new value chains, where they deal pre-season contracts directly with farmers to control quality and volume supply.  

- South-East region, Central Highlands and Mekong Delta are the major producing regions with a total production area of around 17,000 ha, with annual volume at around 82,000 MT

- SE region and central highland harvest (July to Aug).

- Mekong region harvests from May to June

- Majority of volumes produced are for domestic consumption and the rest is for export.

- Due to fluctuations in local weather and climate change, variations in growing period and harvest occurs in patches making fresh durian available almost all year long from May to November

Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the US were the top importers of durian in MY 2020/21. Hong Kong’s import value amounted to USD 31M with import quantity around 12,453 MT, followed by Taiwan with an import value of USD 17M and import quantity around 6,874 MT. The third spot as a leading importer was the US with an import value of USD 6.3M and quantity around 2500 MT

The main varieties of Vietnamese Durian are Ri6 and Chin Hoa, which has enormous arils. Vietnam has about 30 native varieties

1. Sau Rieng Ri 6

- This variety is found in Ho Chi Minh City and is the most popular variety in Vietnam. 

- It is bright yellow in colour, with thick and fibrous flesh. 

2. Sau Rieng Chin Hoa

- This variety is large and round in shape, with a significant amount of flesh. 

3. Sau Rieng Cuon Bo Co’m Sa’u

- It has a creamy taste and does no have the typical durian flavour.

- Grown in Mekong Delta.

4. Sau Rieng Hat Lep Tieng Giang

- This is a fleshy durian with small seeds.

- Grown in the Tieng Giang province of the Mekong Delta.

5. Sau Rieng Kho Qua Xanh

- This variety has large seeds, small flesh, with a strong flavor and smell. 

- It is the cheapest durian variety. 

6. Dona

- This variety is actually a Thai Monthong grown on a Vietnamese rootstock. 

- It is slightly sweeter than the Thai Monthong.

1. Customs procedures for exporting agricultural products to foreign countries:

For customs procedures, exporters undergo the same process as other agricultural products such as:

- Customs declaration

- Referral

- Commercial Invoice

- Booking confirmation

These documents need to be attached to the scanned copies of the customs V5 without the need for the original. Additionally, export customs declarations go through the green route to automatically clear customs.

2. Quarantine Procedures, granting Phytosanitary certificates for the export of agricultural products:

For durian, the quarantine procedure is the most difficult, as there are different requirements for handling, classification, preliminary processing, and preservation. Additionally, each market has different ways of processing, handling, packaging, preserving, and quality.

3. Procedures for Issuance of Certificates of Origin - Applying for C/O: 

Applying for a C/O does not require the exporter to provide the norms of raw materials and production processes. Instead, it is only necessary to provide the cleared customs declaration, commercial invoice, airway bill or seaway bill and purchase statement.

The documents required for exporting goods include:

- Electronic Export Customs Declaration (E-Form HQ/2015/XK);

- Bill of lading;

- Contract;

- Certificate of origin;

- Commercial invoice;

- Customs export declaration form;

- Export Permit;

- Packing list; and

- Technical standard/health certificate.

Harvesting

• The fruit should be allowed to fall to the ground so that it is really sweet and mature. 

Packaging

• Fruit is graded on weight, shape, size, and defects. 
• Defects include disease, insects, mechanical injury, and flesh disorders. 
• Since the fruit is packed into Cardboard cartons (4 to 6 fruit per carton), it is important to ensure that there is no diseased fruit as this will cause all the fruit in the cartons to be infected.
  

Chilling Sensitivity

• The pulp of half- to near-full ripe fruit is much less sensitive to chilling injury than the peel, and the pulp can be stored for 4 weeks at 5°C (41°F). 
• Whole fruit stored at less than 15°C (59°F) develops chilling injury consisting of the peel turning black or dark brown, starting at the groove between the splines and will affect durians quality. 
• Chill-injured pulp suffers a loss of aroma, does not soften, and may develop sunken areas on the surface.
  

Durian Smell

• Durian is odoriferous, and all the more so when fully ripe. However, the outside of a perfectly ripe durian doesn’t have the same sharp pungency as the inside. Since the shell of the durian doesn’t contain the same volatiles as the flesh, if the durian hasn’t been broken open yet, either by force of falling or a knife, the odor should remain mostly sealed inside. 
• This varies slightly with the thickness of the shell. If the durian has no smell at all, chances are it’s not ripe. If it smells really strong, chances are it’s overripe. When the fruit is brought close to the nose, one should experience a low level, earthy yet sulfurous smell, like fresh-cut grass and scrambled eggs.
  

The Fall

• When ripe, durians fall off the tree. If the durian fell within the last day, chances are that it’s perfect. Allowing a durian to sit for up to 12 hours improves the flavor. 
• Knowing if the durian fell is a good start, but immature durians sometimes get knocked down due to strong winds, rain, animals, or a natural culling process when the tree has too many fruits. In many countries, durians are purposefully cut off the three days before it would have fallen, for transportation or ease of harvest.
  

The Joint

• When a durian falls from the tree, it breaks off at a weakened groove on the stem. The botanical term is “abscission layer”. The stem of a ripe durian, no matter whether it fell or was cut early, should break off at that point. 
• One can test how close to ripe a cut durian is by wiggling the stem – if it’s loose at that point, the durian is close to ripe. If it has broken off already or comes off easily in the hand, the durian is ripe. 
• The stem should still be fully attached and fresh-looking, with a green hue coming through the brown skin. When the stem is scraped with the thumbnail, the interior should be grass green. If the stem is shriveled, or dark brown, the durian is days old, and chances are it was cut early and has been ripening under a tarp. It may be ripe and taste okay, but the flavor is always better from durian that falls on its own.
  

Shake the durian

• One of the easiest ways to tell if a durian is ripe is to hold it to the ear and shake it. The flesh of a ripened durian is soft, which allows the seeds to bang around inside the shell-like a maraca filled with gak. 
• If the seed is rattling around with no resistance, chances are the durian is overripe. If there is nothing that can be heard or felt, the durian flesh is hard.
  

Thump the durian

• If the durian sounds slightly hollow, it means the flesh has softened enough to recede from the shell, and the durian is at least edible. Various levels of hollowness correlate to levels of softness.

Global Market

Global Market Production(2020): 914,279 tons ($2,778,141 B)

-Thailand accounts is the leading world exporter with 620,889 tons ($ 2,094,584 B)

-Hong Kong’s (re) exported 245,815 tons ($585,458 M)

-The biggest importer of Durian worldwide is China, 397,000 tons worth $1.62B with a 10.8% growth and mainly imported from Thailand.

Production & Export

Vietnam is the 3rd biggest world exporter

-Total export volume 27,988 tons ($71M) (2020)

-Annual growth rate: - 74% in MY 2019 – 2020

-The Ri6 and Muangthong are the most exported durian variety 

- Based on trade map data, HK imported durian from Vietnam 12,453 tons which is 44% of the total volumes exported.A huge decline (-37%) compared to values from 2019.

- Records also indicate that HK’s durian are mainly imported from Thailand with 246,948 tons ($592M).

- At least 90% of imported durians are re-exported mainly to China & Macau and to date, only Thailand is allowed to export fresh to China

- Vietnam durian faces fierce competition with Thai and Malaysian durian in HK.

- Exports of Thai durian in HK is high from late Dec~ early Mar (minor durian season)

- Consumption of durian is high from Jun to early Oct. (Durian season)