Laos’ sprouting durian industry strives for exports to China

Durian production in Laos has come to fruition and the industry is seeking opportunities to export to China – the world’s largest consumer of the stinky fruit. Tao Jian, a 54-year-old Chinese entrepreneur and the owner of Jinguo, a company with 50,000 durian trees planted on the Bolaven Plateau in southern Laos, recently celebrated the first harvest from his. Though the region is primarily known as Laos' coffee hub, it could soon gain recognition for durians. Tao said the country’s fertile soil is ideal for farming the fruit and a hybrid durian variety, a mix between Malaysian and local cultivars, has been successfully developed there, leading to high-quality produce. "I believe Laos will soon become the world's fourth-largest durian producer, after Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia," he told Nikkei Asia. While the durian industry has been expanding rapidly in several Southeast Asian countries, large-scale durian farming has only been sprouting recently in Laos, where the fruit used ...