Rungroj Yongrit / EPA
Workers prepare durian at a fruit market near Bangkok, Thailand
Such is the durian’s popularity in China that governments in Southeast Asia, where most of the fruit is produced, are using exports as an instrument of political and economic influence — transforming some previously poor agricultural areas into hotbeds of prosperity.
Distinctive in flavor and notoriously divisive, no is everyone’s favorite fruit. This was certainly the case for some Chinese explorers when they first encountered it during the early sea voyages of the Ming dynasty.
One record dates back to 1413, when a translator named Ma Huan traveled to what is now Malaysia on an expedition with diplomat and admiral Zheng He.
In his travel report, Ma described the durian as a “”, which smelled like “rotten beef”.
But fast forward six centuries — and this tropical fruit would eventually find its way into Chinese daily life, they say. Ming Gao e Tabita Rosendalresearchers from Lund University, Sweden, in an article in .
China is today the world’s largest importer of durianrepresenting around 95% of global demand. Imports soared to an all-time high of almost $7 billion (5.9 billion euros) em 2024.
A popularity of durian in China is such that governments in Southeast Asia, where most of the world’s durian is produced, are using exports as instrument of political and economic influence.
For years now offer superior quality durians to Chinese officials is one of the ways Southeast Asian governments have found to cultivate goodwill. On a visit to Beijing in 1975, for example, former Thai Prime Minister Kukrit Pramoj offered 200 durians to Chinese leaders.
More recently, in 2024, the King of Malaysia, Ibrahimoffered the Chinese president, Xi Jinpingtwo boxes of premium durians during a state visit.
Among them was the coveted Musang Kinga variety often nicknamed in China as “Beed two hardness”in an allusion to the fashion brand Hermès, associated in the country with a extreme prestige.
The Chinese Prime Minister, Li Qiangand the Malaysian Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahimhad also been filmed, earlier that year, sitting side by side, opening a durian with a knife and eat it with a spoon. The traditional way of consuming this fruit involves open it and eat the pulp by hand.
Durian has an intense odor, which makes it hated by many people — who don’t even get to try its flavor.
However, the durian It’s more than a symbol of friendship between Southeast Asian states and Beijing. The huge Chinese demand for durians has driven the internal economic growth throughout the regiontransforming some previously poor agricultural areas into pockets of prosperity.
Second Eric ChanMalaysian farmer interviewed by In 2024, revenue from sales to China transformed their locality.
Chan says local durian farmers were able to rebuild their homes, going from “wood to brick”and that now “they can pay to send their children study at a university abroad”.
Southeast Asian countries have also taken advantage of China’s appetite for durians to strengthen economic relations with Beijing. Vietnamese durian exports, for example, have been identified as determining factors in opening up access to the Chinese market for other nationally produced agricultural products.
And the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidiopenly stated that he sees durian exports as a way of secure Chinese investments subsequent ones.
“Durian diplomacy is not just diplomacyit’s durian business,” Hamidi said in November. “We need to work with Chinese businesspeople to further develop plantations of Musang King in Malaysia and we should also jointly strengthen the downstream industries.”
For China, the durian trade is part of a broader strategy. Since coming to power in 2013, Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed that the country needs safeguard your food security.
Researchers describe the approach as a “food rotation”: an emerging network of investments and trade agreements designed to diversify Chinese food imports across various regions of the world.
Durian from Southeast Asia is thus just one part of a flow much wider.
Southeast Asian countries have also taken advantage of China’s appetite for durians to strengthen economic relations with Beijing.
New Zealand exports most of its golden kiwis premium, and the Chinese market is an equally important destination for Chilean cherries. There are reports that also suggest an increase in shipments of avocados from Kenya to China.
O Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January, and the global chaos that followed it, allowed China to consolidate these relations.
In the first quarter of 2025, for example, Chinese imports of agricultural products from members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations reached almost $7.5 billion — a 14% increase compared to the same period in 2024.
According to Chatham House, a British international relations think tank, Trump’s erratic policies led to a degradation in the perception of the USA among officials in Southeast Asia, which could lead to countries in the region, including traditional allies from Washington like the Philippines and Thailand, if bring them even closer to Beijing’s sphere of influence in the near future.
The durian boom in China has brought rapid growth in Southeast Asiabut also generated several unintended consequences.
The creation of new plantations, for example, has contributed to the deforestation in Indonesia, Laos and Malaysia. This has disturbed local habitats and ecosystems, putting endangered animal species at risklike the Malayan tiger.
As the Chinese market continues to grow, Southeast Asian countries will also have to prepare for a greater foreign control on supply chains and for regulatory uncertainty in a context of unstable global economy.
The challenge from now onwill be to capture the benefits of Chinese demand for durians, while managing the expansion of the sector, conclude Gao and Rosendal.
