Thailand’s durians, especially the Mon Thong variety, are seeing domestic and overseas demand pick up this harvest season.

Suradet Sapprasarn, a wholesaler in Chanthaburi province, reputed to be the largest producer of durians, said that each wholesaler is exporting 2-5 cargo containers of the fruit to markets in China each day, adding that he is exporting an average of two containers himself.

He said that there are more wholesalers this year and they are competing to buy durian from plantation owners to meet increasing demand in China, adding that the juicy but pungent fruit is fetching a higher price this year, with the AB grade priced at 155 baht/kg wholesale, 110 baht/kg for the C grade and 70 baht/kg for the substandard grade.

Kasem Wongkampun, a durian plantation owner in Tha Mai district of Chanthaburi, said he wants to sell durians of mixed grades at 120 baht/kg, but wholesalers tried to negotiate that down to 110 baht/kg, so he rejected the offer because he expects to get better prices this year.

Panya Praditsarn, an agricultural official based in Chanthaburi, said that 55% of the province’s durian output, or about 430,000 tonnes, have been harvested, claiming that Thai durians are of higher quality than those from Vietnam and the Philippines and remain in high demand in China.

Since February, more than 20,000 containers of durians have been exported, mainly to China and Hong Kong.

The export value of durian each year is estimated at over 100 billion baht