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2021 Global Food Crises Report

The 2021 Global Food Crises Report highlights the remarkably high severity and numbers of people in Crisis or worse in 55 countries/territories, driven by persistent conflict, pre-existing and COVID-19-related economic shocks, and weather extremes. The number identified in the 2021 edition is the highest in the report’s five-year existence. While conflict continues to displace people, disrupt livelihoods and damage economies, the COVID-19 pandemic and related containment measures have exacerbated pre-existing drivers of fragility, widened inequalities and exposed structural vulnerabilities of local and global food systems, hitting the most economically vulnerable households particularly hard. The shocks come amid the frequent threat of [...]

February 2021 News Update

Welcome to our February 2021 Plantations International update. In this issue... We have some very exciting news! New Representative Office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam New Plantation Management Company in Malaysia Mango Plantation in Thailand on Schedule Clients Harvests Proceeds Can Now be Paid Directly into a Visa Debit Card New Tahitian Vanilla bean grow-house in Cambodia New Representative Office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam ~ Plantations International is very pleased to announce the opening of a representative office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The new representative office trades under the name of Royal Plantations Co. Limited and [...]

Chinese Consumers Prefer Musang King Durian From Malaysia

Most of the durian currently available in the Chinese market are either  from Malaysia or from Thailand. Durian do not stay fresh for very long. They generally stay fresh for around 10 days. Malaysian durian, however, are frozen with liquid nitrogen technology that preserves 97% of the flavor and product quality. Their shelf life is around 18 months, which is more than 50 times the shelf life of fresh durian from Thailand. The Malaysian durian are more suitable for long-distance transport and online sales, while Thai durian are sold by local fruit vendors. Surveys show that the majority of Chinese consumers [...]

Malaysia’s Exports to China Increasing in spite of Pandemic

I met Ambassador Raja Nushirwan Zainal Abidin at the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing, when he was preparing to attend an event promoting durian. The durian on display was a premium durian from Malaysia, Musang King, a fruit that's popular in China. "This star shows it's Musang King Durian, secondly it helps you to open the fruit up. So it tells Musang King Durian from other varieties of durians," said the ambassador. The event gathered importers, consumers and popular social media figures, or key opinion leaders as they're known. An event promoter said quite a lot of Musang King durians are sold [...]

European Association for Business and Commerce

January 29, 2021 - Plantations International Co. Limited in Bangkok, Thailand which is a part of the Plantations International group of companies, is very pleased to announce that it has been inducted into the European Association for Business and Commerce. The European Association for Business and Commerce (EABC), established in 2011, aims to be the unified voice of the European business community in Thailand. EABC's objectives are to advocate member interests, to support European business in Thailand and to promote Thailand as an attractive partner for European foreign investment and trade. EABC acts as the European chamber of commerce in Thailand, covering [...]

China Customs Busts $102 Million Durian Smuggling Ring

According to an announcement from Chinese customs authorities on Jan. 5, the customs units at Nanning and the Huangpu district of Guangzhou have jointly uncovered a large-scale durian smuggling operation. At 4 a.m. on Jan. 1, under the direction of the General Administration of Customs Anti-Smuggling Division, the anti-smuggling divisions of the Nanning and Huangpu customs authorities conducted a targeted raid on the durian fruit smuggling ring. The authorities dispatched more than 70 officers across several locations, including Nanning and Pingxiang in Guangxi province and Dongguan in Guangdong province. The operation resulted in the successful dismantling of three durian fruit smuggling [...]

China’s ambassador to Malaysia Loves Musang King Durian

Musang King Durian Known for his love for the king of fruit, China’s ambassador to Malaysia Bai Tian took to Douyin to promote the famed Musang King durian. Dubbed “the ambassador with the greatest love for durian” and “the best durian promoter”, he released a 90-second long video praising the fruit, from its appearance to the taste and characteristics. “The truth is, it’s very delicious!” lauded Bai in a video posted on the embassy’s Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) account on Sunday. It garnered over 4,600 likes and interest among users, who said that they can’t wait to fly over [...]