Thailand’s durian dealers fear for China exports after coronavirus surge

Thailand is the world’s No 1 exporter of the ‘king of fruits’, the vast majority of which go straight to China – with 575,000 tonnes shipped in 2020 alone

But as coronavirus infections hit record levels, Thailand’s durian dealers are worried about a repeat of the social media scare that sent China’s Chilean cherry sales tumbling earlier this year

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A vendor sells durian fruits at a street stall in Bangkok in May last year. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:00am, 15 Apr 2021Updated: 10:00am, 15 Apr 2021

From the moment she first tasted a Thai durian in 2006, Pan Jiao Ling knew she was on to something special. The Nanning native had come to Thailand as an exchange student, but when she discovered what the locally grown “king of fruits” tasted like, it made her change her future plans.

“I was blown away,” said Pan, now 36. “The durian I had in China was nothing compared to what I’d had in Thailand. I knew I had to do something.”

So the Chinese national decided to stay, and since 2009 has run her own durian export business shipping fruits from Thailand’s east and south, where most are grown, to various cities around China.

Thailand exported 575,000 tonnes of durian fruits to China last year. Photo: AFP

Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Pan would order between 30 and 40 tonnes of durian every day from Thai farms for export. She even managed to maintain that level of orders through much of last year, with the biggest setback being the 14-day quarantines that Laos and Vietnam introduced for cross-border truck drivers – a logistical headache that Pan said hindered some of her durian shipments.

Thailand made it through much of 2020 relatively unscathed by the pandemic – until an outbreak in December tied to a seafood market southwest of Bangkok sparked a fierce second wave of infection. The country is now in the grips of a third coronavirus surge that began last month at an upscale entertainment venue in the capital, and Pan said she is worried about what it could mean for Thailand’s durian exports to China.

She pointed to the social media scare surrounding Chilean cherries that sent prices of that fruit tumbling earlier this year, after a regional health authority in China issued a circular saying that tests on imported cherries had revealed coronavirus contamination.

“Now I am very worried that China might find the coronavirus in any of the durian containers. That would mean a total ban of the fruit from Thailand,” said Pan, who has lowered her durian orders to 10 tonnes per day to avoid any unforeseen circumstances. “The Covid-19 situation in Thailand is serious now and I don’t want any risk during the inspections at port.”