Exporting durians to China not affecting local prices, says Fama director

MELAKA: Exporting fresh durians to China, expected to commence in September, will not affect the market or increase the price of the fruit locally.

Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) director-general Abdul Rashid Bahri said this is because the exported durians are specifically for the China market and only involve cloned varieties such as 'Musang King', 'IOI', or 'Duri Hitam' (Black Thorn), depending on demand from China.

"We guarantee that durian prices will not be expensive because, for the local market, residents still have options including 'durian kampung'. Besides, the durian season this time is quite long, which means we expect plentiful fruit until September," he told reporters after officiating the 'Program Kendurian@Jualan Agro MADANI' at Pasaraya AEON Bandaraya Melaka on Thursday (June 27).

"So there will be affordable durians in the local market, and there may be slight price increases because there are costs that durian sellers have to bear."

He explained that the first export of fresh durians to China would use air or sea routes and would depend on the availability of supply and demand from the country.

"If we ship the consignment, we estimate delivering about 10 or 20 tonnes, while for air transportation, which is quite limited, we expect to deliver one tonne or 5,000 fruits," he said.

He added that around 70 packing centres are being audited by the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry, and more than 200 durian farms that comply with Good Agricultural Practices standards are applying for the auditing process to qualify their fruits for export.

In other developments, Abdul Rashid said the achievement of the Madani Agro Sales, organised in 3,655 locations this year until June 30, recorded a sales value of RM77.1mil involving about 47,125 local entrepreneurs and brought savings of approximately RM23.1mil to customers. – Bernama