Durian growers in the Mekong Delta region are earning big thanks to a surge in fruit exports to China

Durian prices in 2021 dropped as low as VND35,000 per kilo according to Loc, because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The durian price hike has been fuelled by the signing of a protocol between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam and the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) since July last year. Demand has also been bolstered by Thailand’s durian harvest yet to take place, so China has imported more durian from Vietnam.

Loc said there were not large stockpiles of the fruit so his co-operative had to buy the fruit from different localities in the Mekong Delta region. There will be two durian harvests in the area in the next month.

Ngu Hiep Durian Co-operative has 102 members owning 191 hectares of durian.

Nguyen Van Trieu from Ngu Hiep Commune said that his family grows 6,000 square metres of durian and earns a profit of VND1.2 billion in this off-season durian crop.

"It is more difficult to take care of durians; however, the loss rate is lower than other crops,” Trieu said.

According to Trieu, each durian tree in his family has a productivity of 200 kilos. In this off-season crop, his garden’s total productivity has reached around 10 tonnes.

Tien Giang’s total durian area has reached 17,600 hectares, mainly in the districts of Cai Be, Cai Lay and Cai Lay Town.

Amid the rising durian prices, many farmers in the Mekong Delta have reduced other crops to turn to durian.

Dang Phuc Nguyen, General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetables Association, said only durian that met Chinese phytosanitary protocol requirements would be allowed to be exported to China.

To avoid oversupply, such as seen with pepper, people were advised not to just swap over to growing durian.