Brief Summary: 

China’s call for the beloved local Southeast Asian fruit known as durian has increased the value of exports by the billions. The SEA durian fruit exports to China have increased from roughly 500 million to 6.7 billion in a matter of a few years. Currently the biggest export countries are known to be Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam as China’s top sellers. 

The article “China’s Lust for Durian Is Creating Fortunes in Southeast Asia” by Thomas Fuller highlights the beneficial economic possibilities for Southeast Asian countries and their exports with China. Before China got involved, the once rugby sized fruit full of powerful odors and spikes was previously sold cheap on the backs of trucks. Now it’s transforming Southeast asian lives and landscapes. In Malaysia durian’s are grown in plantations that spread across at least 1000 acres or more. Furthermore businesses continue to expand rapidly, and the author Fuller specifically mentions a Thailand company is preparing for initial offerings, and that farmers have also become millionaires. Mr. Chan has become one prime example, since he sold his share of his company that produced durian as a paste for a variety of foods such as cookies, ice cream, pizza, etc…for the equivalent of 4.5 million which is 50 times his initial investment (Fuller, 2).  

The durian farmers connect their fortune to the China craze. Which clearly explicates the surge for products (and exports) such as durian exports. And the measure of China’s consumer population and economic power in the global economy as a whole. Ultimately when China’s consumers have the manpower and wealth to influence and demand foreign products. The ability to reshape Southeast Asian countries and (asian regions) to meet their demands can be seen as both promising and problematic.  

A few examples of this is, news reports in Vietnam claim that farmers there were cutting down coffee plants to make room for more durian. While Thailand has doubled their durian orchard acreage in a short period of time. And Malaysia has taken extreme measures to raze jungles in the hills outside of Raub to make way for more plantations. Leading export countries like the ones mentioned above are simply catering to fulfill China’s everlasting interest in a single product.   

Work Cited: 

Fuller, Thomas, and Gabriela Bhaskar. “China’s Lust for Durian Is Creating Fortunes in Southeast Asia.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 June 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/06/16/business/durian-china-malaysia-thailand.html. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/16/business/durian-china-malaysia-thailand.html