China’s durian dream: Can Hainan nurture a homegrown industry for the king of fruits?
Faced with typhoons, long growing cycles and limited scale, Hainan’s durian growers are betting on technology and premium fruit rather than trying to match Southeast Asia on volume.
China’s durian industry is taking root on Hainan island, despite challenges posed by typhoons, long growing cycles, and limited scale. The tropical climate of Hainan has made it a testing ground for growing durians, as the island seeks to establish a domestic industry around one of China's most prized imports. In 2022, China imported a record 1.87 million tonnes of fresh durians, valued at about US$7.5 billion, with nearly all of them coming from Southeast Asia.
The demand for durians has been fueled by their luxury image and popularity among Chinese influencers.
Hainan began planting durian trees sporadically since the 1950s, but it wasn't until 2014 that the fruit started to take off. A rambutan farmer in Baoting county received 100 durian seedlings during a trip to Vietnam and took them back to his farm in Hainan. A few years later, around 40 of those trees bore fruit, catching the attention of other growers and eventually leading to large-scale cultivation in Sanya city.
Today, Hainan has around 3,300ha of durian plantations, with only 30% of them bearing fruit. The island's success marks a "zero-to-one breakthrough" in the industry. However, growing durians reliably and at scale remains a challenge, as trees take years to bear fruit, and typhoons pose a significant risk. Farmers are experimenting with new techniques and technologies to cultivate the fruit locally, with some success.
Written by urgent.news from Channel News Asia's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
