Compiled by ZULKIFLI ABD RAHMAN, C.ARUNO and R. ARAVINTHAN
THE market for fresh Malaysian durians in China is expected to see a double-digit growth since local producers were allowed to export the fruit last year, reported China Press.
According to fruit wholesalers at the China International Import Expo, they expect to import 30% more durians in 2025 from Malaysia to meet rising demand.
According to one wholesaler, fresh durian from Malaysia is becoming a fad among consumers in China.
“They are different from durians from Thailand and Vietnam. Durians from Malaysia are harvested only when they drop to the ground,” he said.
According to data from the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry, Malaysia shipped fresh durian worth RM24.8bil to China between August and December last year.
Currently, Thailand remains the biggest durian exporter to China with an estimated market value of US$6.99bil (RM30.8bil), representing 57% of the market share.
> A man in China who avoided drinking, smoking and social gatherings managed to save more than two million yuan (RM1.3mil) by carrying bricks for nearly a decade, reported Sin Chew Daily.
He Jilin, 34, from Sichuan started working as a construction worker in Fujian in 2016 and was responsible for manually carrying bricks up construction sites without lifts.
“The pay depends on how many you carry. The more you work, the more you earn.
“In our line of work, you will make money even though the pay is not high as long as you are willing to put in the labour,” he said.
In the beginning, He could only carry up to 600 bricks a day but today, he can carry more than 2,000.
His day starts at 5am and ends only at 9pm to 10pm. He gets an hour’s lunch break in between.
“It is exhausting. But as long as you are used to it, your body and spirit will get used to it,” he said.
A divorcee with a son, He focused his entire life on work and had avoided drinking, smoking and social gatherings.
With more than two million yuan saved over the last nine years, He used it to build a house in his home province in Sichuan and bought a car.
(The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.)
