PUTRAJAYA: About 1,000 tonnes of Malaysia’s frozen whole durian is expected to enter the Chinese market every month, says Agriculture and Agro-based Minister Datuk Salahuddin Ayub.
The export protocol was signed on Aug 20 last year in Beijing, China.
“Exports of the king of fruits are expected to contribute close to RM500mil to the nation’s total export value annually,” said Salahuddin.
Five companies were given the green light to export the fruit to China: Exofruits Industry Sdn Bhd, JL Food Industries Sdn Bhd, PHG Ever Fresh Food (M) Sdn Bhd, Top Fruits Sdn Bhd and Kami Food Services Sdn Bhd.
“We hope more companies will get permission to export the fruit soon,” Salahuddin said at the launch of an event to commemorate the inaugural export of Malaysia’s frozen whole durian to China here yesterday.
Also present was China’s Ambassador to Malaysia, Bai Tian.
Salahuddin said the ministry was confident the total durian production would be enough to meet local and international market demand.
Total production of durian rose to 341,000 tonnes last year from 211,000 tonnes in 2017.
This is expected to keep rising, especially premium variants such as Musang King and Black Thorn.
“Negotiations with China in the past few years have resulted in the opening of more commercial durian farms, thus boosting production,” Salahuddin said.
He said Malaysia’s efforts to penetrate the Chinese market for durian began in 2007 and following negotiations, Malaysia began exporting frozen durian in May 2011.
Last year, Malaysia’s total durian export to China stood at RM9.44mil or 235.62 metric tonnes. — Bernama