Laos' sprouting durian industry strives for exports to China

Tao Jian, a 54-year-old Chinese entrepreneur and the owner of Jinguo, a company with 50,000 durian trees planted on the Bolaven Plateau in southern Laos, recently celebrated the first harvest from his.

Though the region is primarily known as Laos' coffee hub, it could soon gain recognition for durians.

Tao said the country’s fertile soil is ideal for farming the fruit and a hybrid durian variety, a mix between Malaysian and local cultivars, has been successfully developed there, leading to high-quality produce.

"I believe Laos will soon become the world's fourth-largest durian producer, after Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia," he told Nikkei Asia.

While the durian industry has been expanding rapidly in several Southeast Asian countries, large-scale durian farming has only been sprouting recently in Laos, where the fruit used to be grown mostly in the backyards of local families.

At a meeting between the Lao Agricultural Business Association, representatives of Lao durian growers, and Chinese agricultural importers in August, Bounthieng Latthanavong, president of the association, stated that durian production methods in Laos have become more professional and robust, positioning the industry for success in global markets, as reported by the official Lao News Agency.

Elavanh Latpakdee, a representative of durian farmers in Laos, said the association has 170 farms spanning 20,000 hectares and many trees have started producing fruits, yielding around 900 tons of durian per year. It expects production to rise to 24,300 tons worth more than US$155.5 million.

Durian farming in Laos has come a long way, but the country has not yet been allowed to export the fruit to China.

However, that goal might not be too far off. Bounchanh Kombounyasith, Laos' director general of the Department of Agriculture, said market access documents were being prepared and Lao durians will soon be exported to China, a state-owned Chinese newspaper reported late last month.

As the top importer of the fruit, China procured 1.4 million tons of durians worth $6.7 billion in 2023, with Thailand and Vietnam being the top suppliers.

In the second quarter of this year, Thailand shipped about $2.67 billion worth of durian to China, accounting for 75% of imports. Vietnam supplied most of the remaining shipments during the period, the South China Morning Post reported, citing Chinese customs data.

China’s burgeoning demand has been transforming the durian industry in Southeast Asia.

Many farmers in Thailand and Vietnam have become wealthy from the fruit.

And it might also turn the sprouting durian industry in Laos into an economic boon for the country.

China is Laos’ second largest trading partner and its top investor, China Daily reported, citing Chinese customs data.

Bilateral trade between the two nations hit a record $7.1 billion in 2023. It amounted to $4.9 billion in the first seven months of this year, a 30.3% increase from a year ago.

Besides the natural advantages noted by Tao, Laos’ durian industry has been attracting investment from Chinese businessmen who possess the resources to develop the sector. Many of these investors are turning to Laos to establish durian farms with the aim of shipping the fruit back to China.

The Laos-China railway, launched in December 2021, might add to this momentum by reducing the travel time from Vientiane, the capital of Laos, to Kunming, a key trade center in southwestern China, to under 10 hours.

The industry also receives the support of foreign professionals like Duangdavone Sulayavongsa, a durian cultivation expert with nearly 20 years of experience in Thailand.

He believes that Lao durians hold the potential to become a major export commodity, greatly benefiting the country's economy.