Thailand aims to earn 27 billion USD, warns about Vietnamese durian

Thailand "strong" with export goods

Thai durian has just begun its harvest this year. Immediately, this Thai fruit has flooded the Vietnamese market. On online markets, Fumani durian - a mini Thai durian weighing 0.6-1.8kg/fruit - is being sold everywhere at prices ranging from 95,000-150,000 VND/kg, depending on the type.

Compared to the general price level, Thai durian is cheaper than Vietnamese Ri6 and Monthong durian. This is also the reason why Thai durian is favored by Vietnamese consumers these days. Accordingly, a fruit store can consume several tons of Thai durian every day.

There are currently no specific statistics on Thai durian imports into Vietnam. However, from April to September every year, Thai durians flood the Vietnamese market, penetrating the market segment from low-end to high-end.

Meanwhile, in the Chinese market, Thailand has made many moves to maintain its number 1 position when market share is on a downward trend.

Thai durian is sold everywhere in the Vietnamese market.

The Thai Ministry of Agriculture has just instructed the Fruit Committee to meet with durian farmers, durian graders and cutters, businessmen, grading and packaging factory operators... to ensure that exported durian meets China's quality standards and GAP requirements.

In fact, during a Cabinet meeting in early April, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin instructed the Ministry of Agriculture to propose regulations to set standards for durians. The aim is to maintain the quality of Thai durian exports and prevent the sale of immature fruits.

In addition, Thailand also has a special task force to deal with the issue of durian smuggling from other countries to export as Thai durian. This is also an action to protect the country's durian brand.

Thai authorities believe that durian consumption in the Chinese market is on the rise, with demand predicted to increase to over 1 million tons by 2024. In the future, China's durian consumption will increase 15 times the current level, reaching about 15 million tons.

With rising competitors in ASEAN and China itself, Thailand aims to maintain its leading position in durian exports by focusing on quality and expanding its market. Thailand has ambitions to achieve durian export turnover of 1,000 billion baht (about 27 billion USD) in the coming years.

This year, the figure is 1 million tons, with an expected turnover of 130 billion baht (about 3.51 billion USD), mainly exported to China.

Vietnam has advantages, needs to learn from Thai people

In the race to export durian to China - the world's largest consumer market - Vietnam has the advantage of being geographically close and durian being harvested year-round. Meanwhile, Thai durian is only harvested once a year for several months.

However, Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen - General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association - believes that Thai durian is of a higher class and Vietnam needs to learn from their way of doing things.

He pointed out that as soon as our country was allowed to officially export durian to China, Thailand proactively raised the quality standards of its exported durian to maintain its market position.

Vietnam needs to improve the quality of durian to compete better in the Chinese market.

“They have a set of quality standards for dryness, and regulations on harvest time for each growing area. They have measures to check goods before exporting. Not only do they check for pests, but the authorities also check the ripeness of the durian,” said Mr. Nguyen. Durian must meet these standards to be allowed to be exported. If durian is found to be cut prematurely, in addition to destroying the shipment, the business will also be fined.

Meanwhile, we have only controlled pests and diseases on durian according to the protocol, "leaving open" the issue of quality such as ripeness, dryness, good or bad fruit, old or young. The quality of durian depends entirely on the gardener and the trader.

Therefore, in growing areas in our country, there is still a situation of "forcing" young durian to be cut and sold to China when prices are high and supply is in short supply, leading to the consequence that Vietnamese products are less competitive, especially in terms of selling price. At the same time, it affects the reputation and brand of Vietnamese durian in the Chinese market, Mr. Nguyen said.

In fact, many export enterprises have reported that durian trees are forced to be cut too young, and when exported, the goods are returned, affecting their reputation. The situation of pushing durian prices too high makes it difficult for enterprises to purchase, the supply chain is disrupted, and export orders cannot be paid...

Notably, the durian area in our country has increased to 130,000 hectares, meaning that in just a few years, durian output will double the current level. Therefore, Mr. Nguyen and businesses believe that Vietnam needs to soon issue regulations and quality standards for durian. In addition, there should be sanctions to handle cases of cutting young durian for export.

Without strict control over quality issues, if we let things float and export massively, it will be easy for the goods to be returned, affecting our reputation and brand, and even losing the market that took us many years to open. When the market is unstable and production increases sharply, the story of surplus appears.

Durian prices drop sharply

No longer at the historical record high price of 115,000-212,000 VND/kg as before, the price of durian has dropped sharply in the past 2 weeks. Currently, Ri6 durian is at 65,000-88,000 VND/kg; Monthong durian is at 85,000-115,000 VND/kg.

The reason is that durian in the southern region of our country is in the main harvest season. Thailand is also entering the durian season. Therefore, the amount of durian exported to the Chinese market has increased sharply, the supply is no longer scarce as before, so the purchase price at gardens in our country has decreased sharply.

Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen said that the Central Highlands is experiencing drought and the salinity in the West has affected the productivity and quality of durian. Therefore, this year's durian export turnover will only reach about 3 billion USD, instead of 3.5 billion USD as previously forecast.

VietNamNet

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/thai-lan-tham-vong-thu-27-ty-usd-canh-bao-voi-sau-rieng-viet-nam-post383356.html