Depth report

　　

ASEAN Headline News: Vietnamese media reported that the Vietnamese durian industry will achieve a breakthrough growth in 2025, with an export volume of approximately 4 billion US dollars, accounting for nearly 50% of the country's total fruit and vegetable exports.

According to the report by the Vietnam News Agency on January 8th, over the past 10 years, the durian planting area in Vietnam has expanded by nearly five times, reaching approximately 180,000 hectares, with a production volume exceeding 1.5 million tons. Among them, the Xieng Son region is the largest durian planting area in Vietnam, covering an area of over 75,000 hectares.

According to the data from the Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade's Import and Export Department, China continues to be the main export market, having a decisive influence on the growth trend of the industry. However, the industry's development in 2025 shows a significant divergence. In the first half of the year, due to China's strengthened control over pesticide residues and technical standards, exports declined.

Starting from the third quarter of 2025, as enterprises accelerated the standardization of planting areas and packaging facilities coding, strengthened traceability management, and relevant departments coordinated to solve technical obstacles, Vietnamese durian exports gradually recovered and maintained stable customs clearance. As of November 2025, Vietnam exported nearly 885,000 tons of durians to China, with an export value of 3.24 billion US dollars. This reality indicates that the sustainable growth of the industry cannot solely rely on the expansion of planting area or production volume, but highly depends on the degree of compliance with standards and the level of production organization.

Lien Lim Sin, the manager of Vietnam Goodwill Agricultural Products Trading Company, believes that the demand for durians in the international market is still growing, but whether Vietnam can maintain its market share depends on the effective management of planting areas' coding, strict control of chemical residues, as well as the guarantee of product quality and stable supply.

In the first 11 months of 2025 alone, fresh durians have become the largest fruit import category in China, with an import volume of 1.79 million tons and an amount of 7.18 billion US dollars; markets such as Malaysia, the United States, and Australia also showed positive growth trends.

The report states that in the context where durians have a dominant role in the export structure of fruits and vegetables, the development goals are not only to maintain growth, but also to ensure the sustainability and reputation of the industry. To this end, it is necessary to gradually reduce reliance on fresh fruit exports, increase the proportion of processed products, and promote market diversification. At the same time, national management departments should strengthen overall regulation, actively warn of technical trade barriers, unify quality standards, and implement more powerful and practical supervision over the entire industrial chain from production, processing to export.