As the world’s largest durian consumer market, China imported 825,000 tonnes of the fruit in 2022, according to the General Administration of Customs.

Feng, also a researcher with the Hainan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, told the Post that due to weather changes in Hainan, the harvest has been delayed about a month, as the first batch was expected to hit the market in June.

“The domestic durians produced this time are very limited. They are now available only in the orchards, but their production will go up annually in the future,” Feng said, adding that domestic durians focus more on flavour and quality but are unable to compete with Southeast Asian countries in terms of price.