Vietnamese durian faces difficulties in exporting to the Chinese market!

Last year, Vietnam’s durian exports to the Chinese market reached about 3.3 billion USD, becoming the fruit with the highest export value. However, durian exports are facing many serious challenges right from the beginning of this year’s crop season.
The situation of durian exports to the Chinese market, the main consumer, has decreased sharply, causing durian prices in growing areas to plummet. This happened in the context of Vietnam entering the main harvest season (from April to September) with an estimated output of up to millions of tons, making the output for this product a difficult problem.
The core reason for the decline in exports is that Chinese Customs has tightened inspection of O-gold and heavy metals on 100% of durian shipments imported from all countries. This strict inspection measure was applied after Thai durian was found to contain yellow O at the end of last year. According to Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen, General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, this has caused great difficulties.
Many large exporting enterprises admitted that they had to temporarily suspend durian exports to China for nearly half a year. The general director of a large fruit exporting enterprise said that in 2024, his company exported several thousand containers of durian, but for the past half year, he has not been able to export any batches because of 100% inspection of shipments at the border gate. Customers of Vietnamese enterprises are large supermarket chains in China, which have very strict regulations on food safety. Therefore, enterprises have to temporarily suspend exports to standardize processes and complete procedures to ensure goods can clear customs.
The situation of goods production this year is completely opposite to last year. Speaking to Vietnamnet, Mr. Nguyen Van Manh, a durian trader in Can Tho, said that last year he mainly collected goods for warehouses for export, and there were times when the price was high but he still could not collect enough. But this year, due to difficulties in exporting, he only collected goods for domestic consumption. The most obvious consequence is the decrease in turnover and output. According to estimates from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, in the first 4 months of 2025, Vietnam only exported 35,000 tons of durian, with turnover reaching 120-130 million USD.