Malaysia wants to cater to China's growing penchant for durians

Kuala Lumpur

CHINA'S love of durian is skyrocketing, and Malaysia wants a piece of it. The value of China's fresh imports of durian has climbed an average of 26 per cent a year over the past decade, reaching US$1.1 billion in 2016, according to United Nations data.

Thailand dominates that market, but Malaysian politicians are counting on durian diplomacy to expand access beyond frozen fruit pulp.

A Malaysian durian festival in Nanning, in southern China, earlier this month had about 165,000 people lining up to taste thawed, whole-fruit samples of the country's premium Musang King variety.

"Some of them said that, now in China, there are two things that people will queue up for: the iPhone X and Malaysian durians," Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ahmad Shabery Cheek said last Saturday. He was speaking at a durian festival …