As durian enters the peak picking season and begins to be listed in large quantities, the popularity of topics such as "durian falls below 10 yuan per catty" and "5 durians in Guangxi 100 yuan" is also rising, which inevitably makes the public wonder why the price of the "king of fruits" has dived, and is "durian freedom" really coming?
On May 12, when the reporter of "China Times" visited the fresh supermarket in Beijing, he found that the huge durian is often placed in a conspicuous position in the store, and there are many kinds of publicity boards such as "durian forgets to return" and "durian stinky treasure looking for mother". In this case, the sales scene of durian is also extremely hot, with many consumers picking durian in front of the stall, and there is also a long queue in front of the workbench waiting for the staff to open the fruit.
"When I went to the supermarket a few days ago, durian was still more than 40 yuan a catty, and I thought it was more expensive at the time, but I didn't expect it to drop to 25.9 yuan today." Ms. Wang, a consumer waiting in line for the staff to help take out the pulp and pack it, told reporters with emotion.
When the sales staff of the supermarket enthusiastically promoted durian, they said that the price of Thai Golden Pillow durian was 25.9 yuan per catty, and the price of Vietnamese Ganyao durian was 19.89 yuan per catty, which was more than 10% lower than that at the beginning of the month, and the price was cheaper than the same period last year.
"From the perspective of supply and demand, supply is greater than demand, so the price has decreased, and the price of durian will not return to the situation where the price increased significantly at the beginning of 2023. Specifically, the volume of goods from Thailand and Vietnam is concentrated in the market; At the same time, the production area of Thailand is dry, the ripeness of the arrival is uneven, and there are burst fruits, which need to be cleared at a reduced price, resulting in a large price difference; In addition, domestic durian is also accelerating mass production. At present, the planting area of Hainan durian is close to 40,000 mu, and the output in 2024 will increase by two to three times compared with 2023, about 200 tons. Hong Tao, vice chairman of the China Consumer Economics Association and director of the Institute of Business Economics of Beijing Technology and Business University, said in an interview with a reporter from the China Times.
Durian sales are booming
In the case of the hot retail end of durian, in the wholesale end of durian, the sales atmosphere in Beijing's "fruit plate" Xinfadi market is also particularly strong.
The "China Times" reporter visited the boutique area of the fruit wholesale market in Xinfadi Market and found that almost every fruit stall has durian for sale, and the price is concentrated in the range of 23 yuan/jin - 40 yuan/jin, but there are also merchants who hang out durian special prices of 15.9 yuan/jin, and the sides of each stall are full of durian shells. In the International Durian Pavilion in Xinfadi Market, the durians on each stall are also stacked into a "small hill", and there is no shortage of merchants who sell offline and bring goods online through "live broadcast".
The price of durian in the International Durian Pavilion remains at about 30 yuan per catty. In this regard, Mr. Li, a merchant, told the "China Times" reporter that the price of durian varies according to different quality. Class A durians can keep four rooms of pulp, double A class durians can keep five rooms of flesh, and some durians with too low prices may be some small fruits and secondary fruits, and the quality and taste cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, there is no shortage of merchants who choose to sell at low prices, which may be able to attract consumers.
"This year's durian is very cheap, and the price reduction time has been earlier than in previous years, and it has reached the lowest level in the same period in history." Mr. Li said that due to the impact of climate change in Thailand this year, the durian preservation cycle has become shorter, so suppliers are more anxious to ship, which has led to the decline in durian prices. The domestic market followed, and overall prices began to decline.
According to the official website of Beijing Xinfadi Market, on April 30, the average price of Ganyao durian in Vietnam was 21 yuan/jin, compared with 37.5 yuan/jin on March 20, a decrease of 16.5 yuan per catty, and the average price of golden pillow durian in Thailand was 27 yuan/jin, compared with 40.5 yuan/jin on March 10, a decrease of 13.5 yuan per catty.
"At present, in terms of market conditions, a box of 32 catties of high-quality A durian is between 700 and 800 yuan. Compared with the beginning of the year, the market of more than 1,000 yuan per box has decreased by about 40%. The main reason for the current decline in durian prices is that the supply is relatively sufficient. The Xinfadi market sells 15 to 20 containers per day, about 300 tons. Tong Wei, director of the marketing and publicity department of Beijing Xinfadi, said in an interview with a reporter from the China Times.
In fact, since May, durian trading in the Xinfadi market has shown an increasing trend. According to Tong Wei, at present, Xinfadi's durian trading is divided into two ways: large wholesale distribution and fresh hourly delivery, and at present, through fresh hourly delivery, that is, live broadcast with goods, accounts that sell well can sell more than 300,000 yuan of durian a day. After the "May Day" holiday, the daily trading volume of durian has increased from six or seven to more than a dozen vehicles, and the growth rate is relatively fast. In the future, according to the growth of consumer demand, the supply of durian in the Xinfadi market will increase to a certain extent.
"After the price of durian fell, the overall sales situation increased." Mr. Li said as he re-tied the pliers that were a little loose due to the opening of durians, "I open hundreds of durians a day, and the tools are tired. ”
When will "Durian Freedom" be realized?
For a long time, the supply of durian has been relatively limited, mainly relying on imports from Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand and Malaysia, while the global demand for durian continues to rise, especially in China, Singapore and other places, durian is regarded as a high-end fruit and has strong market demand. This situation of short supply has directly pushed up the price of durian, making it a luxury-like existence.
"The recent sharp drop in durian prices is the result of the adjustment of the balance between supply and demand." Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, told the China Times that the phenomenon of "halving" durian prices is closely related to the significant increase in imports. With the optimization of the supply chain, the improvement of logistics efficiency, and the bumper harvest in the production area, the market supply of durian has increased significantly, breaking the original supply and demand pattern, and the price will naturally fall. This not only reflects the flexibility of the market, but also the ability of the durian industry to respond quickly to market changes. Secondly, as one of the world's largest durian consumers, China's market size and consumption capacity have a non-negligible impact on the international durian market. With the rapid development of China's economy and the improvement of people's living standards, the demand for high-end imported fruits such as durian is growing, prompting more countries to set their sights on the Chinese market. In order to satisfy the appetite of Chinese consumers, durian exporters from various countries have increased their supply to the Chinese market, which has undoubtedly intensified market competition and provided the possibility of price reduction.
According to data from the General Administration of Customs, in 2023, the mainland imported more than 1.4259 million tons of fresh durian, worth about US$6.716 billion, an increase of 72.87% compared to 2022.
According to a previous report by the U.S. Consumer News and Business Channel, HSBC released a report in 2023 saying that global durian demand soared by 400% year-on-year thanks to Chinese consumers' love for durian. The Chinese market accounts for 91% of global durian demand, and in the past two years, China has imported durians worth US$6 billion (about 43.7 billion yuan).
With such a huge market demand, how will the mainland durian market develop in the future?
In this regard, Zhi Peiyuan, a master's business tutor at the School of Management of China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing) and president of Zhongqinnong Co., Ltd., said in an interview with a reporter from the China Times that the mainland durian market has significant development potential, thanks to the growth of consumer demand for healthy food and a huge consumption base. It is expected that with the intensification of market competition, product differentiation and quality improvement will become an important means to attract consumers. The standardization and brand development of the durian industry, as well as the optimization of the supply chain, will jointly promote the maturity and expansion of the mainland durian market.
"As a unique tropical fruit, durian is deeply loved by consumers for its rich nutritional value and unique taste. With the improvement of people's living standards and the change of consumption concepts, more and more consumers have begun to pay attention to healthy diet and quality of life. In addition, with the rise of e-commerce platforms and the continuous advancement of logistics technology, the sales channels of durian are also expanding, which provides strong support for the further development of the durian market. Yuan Shuai, executive vice president of the Institute for the Promotion of Agriculture, Culture and Tourism Industry, said in an interview with a reporter from the China Times.
It is worth mentioning that with the news of the listing of domestic durian, there is no shortage of consumers who have expectations for the realization of "durian freedom". So, is "Durian Freedom" really coming?
"At present, durians in the Chinese market mainly rely on Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia, and domestic durians are almost not out of the island, small in size, basically not on the market, and have not been commercialized." Therefore, Tong Wei believes that of course, domestic durian has little impact on the current domestic market.
At present, the planting area of durian in Hainan is close to 40,000 mu, and the output in 2024 will be two to three times higher than that in 2023, about 200 tons. In the long run, the production of domestic durian is far from the market consumption, although with the gradual increase in the production of domestic durian, the market's dependence on imported durian will be reduced to a certain extent in the future, but the main share of the market is still import-based. Therefore, the main factor influencing the price is still imported durian.