As one of the main consumers of durian, China has not yet achieved large-scale cultivation due to the harsh cultivation conditions of durian. Fresh durian still relies on imports from durian-growing countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. According to data from the United Nations Commodity Trade Organization, mainland durian imports account for 82% of the world's total. As of 2021, China's customs statistics show that the import volume of fresh durian in mainland China has reached 821,600 tons, with an import value of about 28 billion yuan.
Source: Zhiyan Consulting
In addition to the Chinese market, the global fresh durian market is also in short supply, which has prompted the cultivation of durian in Southeast Asian countries to increase year by year. Following Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, Laos has recently joined the ranks of durian cultivation origins.
With the opening of the China-Laos Railway, the entry into force of the RCEP agreement and the recent release of information on the proposed Laos-Cambodia Railway between Laos and Cambodia, Laos' status as the core hub of the Lancang-Mekong region has been accelerated, and Laos' international trade has been further liberalized. In the future, Laos' import and export throughput will rank among the best in Southeast Asia, and promote trade between Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia and Asian and European countries. As a large agricultural country, Laos has a rich natural environment, suitable for growing a variety of tropical crops, and the century-old crop durian as the "Hermes" of the fruit market, has extremely high market demand and ultra-long economic value, its harsh planting conditions, while choosing the environment, but also protecting the natural environment. Stimulated by domestic and foreign trade, as well as the ecological symbiosis characteristics that durian cultivation can achieve, Laos will make efforts to grow durian in the agricultural field in the future and achieve an overall increase in agricultural economic output value.
As the vanguard of smart agriculture in China, Sunshine Jiarun has signed a CA agreement with the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Laos in February 2022 for a 50-year concession of 5,000 hectares of forest land for the construction of the world's largest single durian plantation, with a planting area of about 3,000 hectares and more than 200 varieties of durian. As of today, Sunshine Jiarun (Laos) Eco-Agriculture Industrial Park has regularized about 2,000 hectares of durian planting land, planting nearly 10,000 seedlings, and the first batch of durian seedlings will enter the fruit production period in 2028, creating nearly one trillion economic value. In addition, with the in-depth cooperation between Sunshine Jiarun (Laos) Eco-Agriculture Industrial Park and the South Asian Tropical Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, the goals of establishing an integrated system of "planting-production-marketing" of China's wisdom tropical crops and compiling a series of books related to tropical crops will be completed, so as to promote the regional economic development of Laos and achieve social and economic benefits, and sow Chinese wisdom on this green fertile land.