A Vietnamese company earns 25 million USD from exporting frozen durian
As the owner of a leading business in exporting durian, coconut, grapefruit, and dragon fruit in Vietnam, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tung, Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of Vina T&T Group, said that the business currently has 10 packaging facilities distributed in major raw material areas in the Mekong Delta and the Central Highlands.
In addition, Vina T&T also has 2 agricultural processing factories with modern production lines and cold storages, invested 50-60 billion VND/warehouse in Ben Tre province.
The processing and packaging process at the factories meets international standards ISO 9001:2015, HACCP, so Vina T&T is confident in meeting the requirements of the most demanding customers.
Talking to Dan Viet reporter, Mr. Tung commented that durian has many opportunities to penetrate deeper into the domestic market of China as well as other major markets.
Previously, Vina T&T exported frozen durian to many places, mainly remote areas where fresh durian could not reach. Therefore, as soon as the Protocol on exporting frozen durian to China was signed, Vina T&T was ready to bring goods to this billion-people market.
“This is a great opportunity for businesses to boost durian exports and better exploit the value of this fruit. Vina T&T is making many types of frozen products, such as whole durian, whole durian segments with seeds, whole segments without seeds; frozen in ice cream form, broken into pieces for processing. In general, depending on the needs of Chinese customers, as long as there are specific standards and quotes, Vietnamese businesses are ready,” said Mr. Tung.
Workers peel durian segments before freezing them at Vina T&T's factory. Photo: Vina T&T Group
Assessing the advantages of frozen durian, Mr. Tung said that frozen goods can be preserved for a long time and can easily penetrate into mainland China, while fresh durian can only be sold in convenient places and cannot be transported far, and if the price suddenly drops, businesses will be very passive.
The most important thing is that frozen durian entering the billion-people market will relieve supply pressure during peak harvest season.
Although China is a large market and Vietnam has exported large quantities of fresh durian to its neighbor, it still only reaches a small customer base.
Remote northern regions, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, etc., are almost inaccessible to Vietnamese enterprises due to product preservation issues. In fact, Vietnamese durian is now available all year round, and frozen Vietnamese products have been exported to many distant countries such as the US and European countries.
"The issue of concern now is what the market needs, not whether we can export immediately after signing the Protocol," said Mr. Tung.
However, Mr. Tung believes that with a large partner system in China, notably the Sunwah Group, this year T&T will achieve a turnover of about 25 million USD from exporting frozen durian. Along with the official export of fresh coconut to China, Vina T&T is expected to earn an additional 10-17 million USD.
On average, Vina T&T's durian warehouse exports 1 container to China every day. Photo: Vina T&T
Currently, Mr. Tung’s company is focusing on purchasing durian in the Central Highlands. Last year, on average, Vina T&T exported one container of 18-ton durian to China every day.
“To have enough raw materials for production and processing, Vina T&T has cooperated with thousands of farmers from Son La to the Central Highlands, Southeast and Mekong Delta provinces. We have worked hard to build a large raw material area, providing seasonal products, helping the factory always operate at full capacity” – Vina T&T CEO revealed.
Since 2008, Vina T&T has been the leader in exporting dragon fruit to the US and has continued to grow, becoming the enterprise with the largest market share in the US (accounting for 50% of the output of about 15 Vietnamese enterprises exporting fresh fruit to this market). Vina T&T is also famous for its leading fresh fruit export orders from Vietnam to major markets such as China, EU, Japan, Korea, Australia, etc.
The 5-hectare durian garden of Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thao, Director of Tan Bac Agricultural Cooperative (Ea Kenh Commune, Krong Pac District, Dak Lak Province) has an average yield of 100-120 tons/crop. Photo: Thao Thanh
As a durian trader for more than 20 years, Mr. Trinh Dinh Duc - Deputy Director of Duc Hue Lam Dong Company Limited is known as the first person in Lam Dong to experiment with freezing whole durian to build a sustainable durian chain according to the province's project.
Accordingly, in 2011, Mr. Duc's company was supported by the province with machinery and equipment to build a cold storage with a capacity of 200 tons; a nitrogen gas cabinet with a capacity of 30 tons/day to freeze citrus and fruit for export to Europe and the United States.
“Europeans love to eat durian and they want to see the durian, so the company has applied the quick, deep freezing method using liquid nitrogen according to German technology. Accordingly, the durian is frozen super fast, in just nearly 2 hours at a very low temperature (-110°C).
This method helps to keep the shape of each durian segment intact, without creating ice crystals or changing the structure, quality and flavor of the durian segments. Conventional freezing can only preserve for 3-5 months, while freezing with nitrogen gas has a longer preservation time" - Mr. Duc said.
The Central Highlands provinces are in the durian harvest season.
According to Mr. Duc, freezing whole fruits requires more meticulous fruit selection. Accordingly, it is necessary to choose gardens that are cultivated according to standards, apply safe farming methods, and have absolutely no residue of banned pesticides. The durian must be evenly ripe, have high sugar content, and have a beautiful appearance so that when thawed and separated, the durian segments will not be hard, and the flavor quality must reach at least 90%.
Currently, Duc Hue Company applies both conventional freezing technology and liquid nitrogen. Mr. Duc said that freezing whole fruit costs more than freezing segments, but the seller benefits more because they sell the whole peel, without having to spend much time peeling, while the selling price is not much different.
For example, frozen whole durian exported to Europe ranges from 200,000 - 240,000 VND/kg; while frozen durian segments are only 250,000 - 300,000 VND/kg.
For the Chinese market, Duc Hue Company has completed the documents according to Orders 248 and 249, only waiting for the authorities of both sides to check and consider before being ready to send goods to China.
“Along with China, the demand for frozen durian in the US, Australia, and Taiwan markets is huge. In addition to good prices and easy transportation, freezing durian helps businesses and farmers reduce seasonal pressure and can proactively coordinate orders all year round,” said Trinh Dinh Duc.
Investing hundreds of billions of dong to build a cold storage warehouse for durian
Recently, the female "tycoon" in the fruit export industry, Ms. Ngo Tuong Vy - CEO of Chanh Thu Group (Ben Tre) informed that the company has inaugurated the Chanh Thu Dak Lak Fruit Export Processing Factory. The factory is located in Nam Ky village, Ea Drong commune, Cu M'gar district, with a capacity of 70,000 tons of raw materials/year with a total investment capital of more than 476 billion VND.
As a businesswoman with experience in exporting fresh fruits to the US, Japan, China, EU, etc., Ms. Vy said that the goal of setting up a factory in Dak Lak is to purchase and package fresh fruits in the Central Highlands such as durian, passion fruit, sweet potato, avocado; produce and process frozen fruits using advanced technology to meet the needs of export markets; build a chain of links with gardeners and cooperatives in the region, etc.
Ms. Ngo Tuong Vy, General Director of Chanh Thu Fruit Import-Export Corporation, inspects durians being cleaned by workers. Photo: Chanh Thu
Ms. Vy expressed her joy that the functional agencies of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, especially the Plant Protection Department, have paid great attention to opening the market and have been successful with durian - a fruit of great economic value in our country.
“Currently, only about 40% of Chinese people can eat durian, and mainly those in big cities and those with money can buy it. For Chinese people in more remote areas, fresh durian is still a luxury gift. Therefore, there are still many opportunities for Vietnamese durian, especially frozen products, to penetrate deeper into China,” Ms. Vy informed.
Previously, in 2023, Tay Nguyen Durian Joint Stock Company (SARITA) held the inauguration ceremony of a durian processing factory in Tan An Industrial Park, Buon Ma Thuot City, Dak Lak Province. The factory has a capacity of 40,000 tons/year, with an investment of more than 100 billion VND, specializing in processing fresh durian and peeling segments with modern production lines for export.
While durian growing areas in the Mekong Delta and the Central Highlands are famous for their long-standing gardens and experienced care, the provinces that have come after them, such as Binh Phuoc and Dong Nai, have made many people admire their large durian farms, with thorough investment and meeting strict standards. A typical example is Ba Dao Company Limited (Phuoc Long town), with the famous brand of Ba Dao durian.
This is also the only unit in Binh Phuoc province with a double code for growing areas and packaging facilities to export durian directly to China from 2023.
Mr. Truong Van Dao - Director of Bau Nghe Fruit Cooperative (Phuoc Long Town) and members harvesting durian. Photo: Tran Khanh
Old farmer Truong Van Dao - Deputy Director of the Company, also Director of Bau Nghe Fruit Cooperative, excitedly said that after nearly 30 years of being attached to Phuoc Long land, he has built an area of 30 hectares of durian according to VietGAP standards, with the main varieties Chin Hoa, Ri6, Monthong.
However, when he realized that most local durian farmers were disadvantaged due to manipulation by traders, and wanted to break through, they needed to process the product on-site in a specialized way to increase the product value, so he spent money to build a 5,000m2 processing and manufacturing factory with a production capacity of 200 tons/day.
Accordingly, the main method applied by the cooperative factory is freezing whole fruits and separating segments, the entire warehouse applies liquid nitrogen freezing technology. The total investment for the processing line, packaging, and cold storage of the company's factory is currently over 30 billion VND.
In the 2023 durian crop, the company purchased more than 2,000 tons of fresh durian from cooperative members and farmers for official export to the Chinese market.
Liquid Nitrogen frozen durian products of Ba Dao Company Limited (Binh Phuoc).
However, according to Mr. Dao, doing business in the durian industry is not a one-day affair but a long-term one. The cooperative advises people to try to grow clean durian and especially to keep their reputation in buying and selling.
“Individuals in the industry chain must eliminate seasonal and business thinking; only by uniting can Binh Phuoc durian and Vietnam in general be able to compete with other countries,” said Mr. Dao.
Currently, the total durian growing area in Binh Phuoc province reaches nearly 6,000 hectares, ranking second in the Southeast region, after Dong Nai.
Notably, thanks to being a latecomer, most durian growers in Binh Phuoc have proactively changed their production methods, invested in high technology, and applied scientific and technical advances in sustainable farming in the direction of GAP, including 831 hectares meeting VietGAP standards and 184 GlobalGAP. Many growers here have been granted growing area codes for official export to China.
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