Southeast Asians have a love-hate relationship with durians, sometimes called the “king of fruits.” Its spiky exterior masks a pungent smell—meaning the fruit is often banned on public transport, and in hotels and airports.
Yet Chinese consumers can’t get enough of it. China’s imports of the fruit have more than doubled in the past five years, and Pizza Hut’s most popular pizza in China is now “durian pizza with cheese,” Yum China CEO Joey Wat told the audience at the Fortune Global Forum in New York last November: “[If] you don’t like the durian pizza, our solution is, please go out,” she said.
China’s obsession with the fruit spreads far beyond pizza. Outlets in China are starting to serve all kinds of durian goods—durian burgers, durian chicken hot pot, and durian barbecue are just a few. And durian content is racking up billions of views on Douyin, ByteDance’s version of TikTok for the Chinese market, reports the South China Morning Post.
According to customs data, China imported 1.56 billion kilograms of durian last year, up 9.4% from the year before. All that imported spiky fruit was worth just under $7 billion, a 4.1% increase from 2023.
That makes the fruit big business for durian farmers in Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia.
China’s durian imports have steadily grown in recent years. In 2019, China imported 605 million kilograms of durian, worth about $2.5 billion according to customs data. By 2023, that figure had more than doubled, hitting 1.43 billion kilograms with a value of $6.7 billion.
Deregulation has helped. While many countries could sell frozen durians to China, Thailand was for years the only country allowed to export fresh durians.
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But in 2022, China opened its market to Vietnamese farmers after they agreed to comply with Chinese regulations. Filipino durian farmers were given access a year later.
In 2022, Thailand accounted for 95% of China’s durian imports. Two years later, in 2024, Thailand only contributed about 52%, while Vietnam accounted for 47.2% according to customs data. The Philippines and Malaysia were the two other countries that also exported fresh durians to China last year.
Overuse of land and extreme heat have contributed to Thailand’s decline. Vietnam also benefits from a land border with China, which makes trade easier.
Durian diplomacy
Almost all of the world’s durian exports go to China, according to the United Nations.
Last June, as part of a flurry of deals marking a half-century of diplomatic relations, Beijing agreed to allow fresh durian from Malaysia into the Chinese market. By the end of the year, Malaysia had shipped a total of about 351 metric tons, or 351,000 kilograms. The country was already Malaysia’s biggest market for frozen durian and processed durian products.
Indonesia, another large durian producer, has been trying to get access to the Chinese market. Currently, Indonesia can only export less lucrative durian paste, or have fresh durians pass inspection in Thailand, eating into margins.
China has also tried to grow the fruit in areas like the tropical island of Hainan—with limited success. Durian is a finicky fruit, requiring the right temperature and soil conditions to grow properly.
And research shows that Hainan-grown durians might not have what it takes. A December study from Chinese academics found that some durians grown in Hainan lacked key nutrients when compared with those grown in Southeast Asia.
