Malaysian durian trade battered as lockdown bites

Workers loading baskets of durians onto a truck for sale at a farm in Raub, Pahang as traders become more reliant on China's appetite for the fruit. - AFP

RAUB (AFP): Durians falling from trees are collected in nets on a farm in Malaysia, where a long lockdown has slowed domestic demand and left traders more reliant on China's appetite for the world's smelliest fruit.

Grown across tropical Southeast Asia, fans love the "king of fruits" for its bittersweet flavours and creamy texture although critics compare its odour to rotting garbage, and it is banned from many hotels and on public transport.