Demand for Musang King Durian investment has skyrocketed this decade as more and more international consumers have gotten familiar with what we regional call the “King of Fruits”. Since 2010, Musang King Durian has been one of the fastest growing markets in the world, with imports rising 26% annually.

​China’s demand for Musang King Durian has been astronomical but demand is also being driven by consumers throughout all of Asia including Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Durian is now the new starlet of the food and beverage industry with manufactures and retailers driving unique product innovations and marketing within the sector. From Durian pastries to Durian pizzas, burgers and even steamboat. No other fruit in the world is as widely used.

The King of all Durians, is the Musang King Durian. It stands far above all other Durian varieties due to its superior, creamy and delicious bitter sweet flavor.

​Demand for Musang King has been astronomical with prices surging to new highs almost yearly due to insufficient supply and production. According to estimates, more than 12.5 million trees are required to supply China alone. With only 500,000 trees in existence, more plantings are necessary and quickly.

​Called “Gold” by the Agriculture Department, a hectare of Musang King yields nearly nine times more revenue than a hectare of palm plantations. Musang King is without question Malaysia’s future.

All of us are to blame for the poor current state of our Malaysian Durian industry. We have taken our Musang King Durian for granted for years without looking towards the future. Despite being home to the finest Durians in the world, our entire industry is decades behind leader Thailand. Thailand has controlled over 90% of exports for over 15 years. So far in 2020, it made over 600 million USD. Malaysia has  made less than 25 million USD.

A drastic supply imbalance exists within Malaysia because of poor business management, strategy and lack of resources. The result has been billions of revenue being lost every year.

Plantations International is committed to changing this through sustainable focused professionally managed plantations. We aim to lead change within our industry and bring Malaysian Musang Kings Durians to the world. 

The export of Musang King durians and pineapples to China will make the fruits more expensive in the Malaysian market, Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek said today.

“(But) I’m not worried that the prices of our durians and pineapples will go up. I’m more worried that they won’t fetch a good price at all,” he added.

He pointed out that durians and pineapples are not part of the staple diet of Malaysians, who will not be unduly burdened by their price rise.

“I will be very worried if the prices of basic necessities, like rice, go up. But durians and pineapples are not our basic food,” Ahmad Shabery told reporters at the press conference for Livestock Malaysia 2017 at his ministry this afternoon. The agro-farming trade expo, to be held from Sept 28 to Oct I at MAEPS Serdang, will feature state-of-the-art technology in the agricultural industry.

Ahmad Shabery, who has just returned from a working trip to Beijing, said Malaysia’s export of pineapples to China is expected to double to RM320 million annually by 2020, following the recent signing of the protocol on phytosanitary requirements between his ministry and the Chinese government.

“With higher market prices, more people will be enticed to plant durians and pineapples commercially,” he opined.

With the protocol signing, Malaysia is now allowed to export 12,000 tonnes of pineapples, worth RM40 million, to China annually. But currently, only frozen durians are allowed to be exported to China.

“Fresh durians could fetch up to RM800 per fruit in Hong Kong,” he said, adding that they could easily fetch prices of RM200 to RM300 per kilo in mainland China.

Malaysia will ship up to 4,000kg of durian of the Musang King variety to China for a festival celebrating the thorny fruit there in November.

Asean Cooperative Organisation president, Datuk Abdul Fatah Abdullah, told Utusan Malaysia that the Durian King festival in the south-western Chinese city of Nanning will run from Nov 3 to Nov 5, and feature other fruits and products too.

“Because durians have a place in the communities there (China), Malaysian and regional cooperatives must not miss this golden opportunity to export the king of fruits in large quantities,” he was quoted as saying by the Malay language daily.

Malaysia’s Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, is expected to launch the festival in Nanning, the capital of Guangxi region.

The rising popularity of the fruit among the Chinese in recent years has led Malaysian producers to export most of their Musang King Durian harvest to China.

Prices in China for the prized Musang King variety have reportedly reached RM500 (S$161) per kg, while the resulting lower supply locally has also bumped up prices in Malaysia.

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