Malaysia's Durian and Tropical Fruit Export Trade

For more than a decade, Malaysian durian could enter China only if it was frozen or processed into pulp and paste. Then, in mid-2024, Malaysia won access it had sought for years: the right to ship whole, fresh durian into the largest durian market on earth.

What actually changed in 2024?

On 19 June 2024, Malaysia and China signed a Protocol on Phytosanitary Requirements for the export of fresh durian. It was the missing piece in a market that had opened only in stages: durian pulp and paste gained entry in 2011, and frozen whole durian in 2018. Fresh whole fruit had remained locked out until this protocol.

The first fresh shipments left Malaysia in August 2024, after the anticipated window for facilities to be registered and approved. The distinction matters commercially. Frozen durian travels well but loses some of the intensity that commands top prices; fresh whole fruit sells at a premium, and it is now legally allowed into China.

Who is allowed to export, and on what terms?

Access is not open to every orchard. Under the protocol, only orchards and packing facilities that:

• register with the Department of Agriculture (DOA),
• comply with myGAP good-agricultural-practice standards, and
• are approved by China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC)

may export fresh durian. Registration and approval are per-site, not blanket, so a farm that skips the paperwork simply cannot ship.

Malaysian officials have been unusually blunt about why the rules matter. Deputy Agriculture and Food Security Minister Chan Foong Hin urged industry players to keep strictly within the agreed protocol and to avoid any method “that falls outside the scope of the protocol or has yet to receive official approval.” His warning was pointed: non-compliance by a single company could jeopardise the entire country’s access — a market, he noted, “secured through years of negotiations.” Concerns raised in the industry engagement centred on quality control, food safety and product traceability, especially around proposed pre-cut export methods that fall outside the current protocol.

How big is the trade so far?

Durian is no longer a niche export line. In a parliamentary written reply dated 6 October 2025, the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry reported that Malaysia had exported 115,359 tonnes of durian worth RM6.37 billion to China between 2018 and mid-2025, based on phytosanitary certificates issued.

The table below shows the most recent partial-year snapshot (January to June 2025) by product type, illustrating how the three channels now run side by side.

Product type	Volume (Jan–Jun 2025)	Value (Jan–Jun 2025)	China access since
Fresh whole durian	773 tonnes	~RM50 million	2024
Frozen whole durian	3,599 tonnes	RM183 million	2018
Durian pulp & paste	5,241 tonnes	RM230 million	2011

Source: Agriculture and Food Security Ministry, parliamentary reply, 6 October 2025.

Fresh durian is the newcomer and the smallest line by volume, but it is the fastest-growing and the highest-value per kilogram — exactly the segment the 2024 protocol was designed to unlock.

Why does Malaysia want geographical indications for Musang King?

A market opening is only worth as much as the brand behind it, and Malaysia’s most valuable durian brands are its named varieties. The country has moved to lock them down as geographical indications (GIs).

Four durian varieties are now registered with the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) under the Geographical Indications Act 2022:

• Musang King (Mao Shan Wang)
• Black Thorn (Ochee)
• Durian Balik Pulau (Penang)
• Durian Nyekak Sarawak

They sit among 128 GI-registered products in Malaysia. A GI ties a name to a specific place and set of qualities, so that only genuine producers from that origin may use it — the same logic that protects Champagne or Parmigiano. For durian, GI status is meant to defend premium pricing and stop “impostor” fruit from trading on famous names.

There is a catch. Malaysian GI registration protects these names only inside Malaysia. MyIPO director-general Yusnieza Syarmila Yusoff has stressed that international protection requires separate filings in each foreign country’s IP office — and, so far, none of the varieties has been registered abroad. That gap is the industry’s live vulnerability: a “Musang King” grown outside Malaysia can be sold under that name in third countries without breaking any Malaysian law.

Where are the export targets headed?

Malaysia’s ambitions are explicit. MATRADE, the national trade promotion agency, has set a target of RM932.3 million (about US$229 million) in durian exports to China by 2030, announced by trade commissioner Niqman Rafaee M. Sahar at the launch of a Malaysia-only durian flagship store in Beijing in July 2026. Malaysia currently holds an estimated 4–5% of China’s durian market and aims to roughly double that to 8–10% within five years.

The broader picture is even larger. In its 7 October 2025 parliamentary reply, the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry projected total durian export value reaching RM1.8 billion on volume of 69,000 tonnes by 2030, and said it is exploring new destinations — Taiwan and Peru among them — to reduce reliance on a single market.

The strategy, then, has three legs: hold and expand the hard-won China access by policing protocol compliance; protect the brand through GI and, eventually, international IP filings; and diversify beyond China so the whole industry does not rest on one buyer.

What’s next

Watch three things. First, whether Malaysia extends GI protection abroad — the single biggest gap in the current brand strategy. Second, how the pre-cut and value-added durian question is resolved, since any method outside the signed protocol risks the China market for everyone. Third, whether the Taiwan and Peru diversification moves from aspiration to signed protocols. For growers, the practical takeaway is unchanged: no DOA registration, myGAP compliance and GACC approval means no fresh-durian exports, full stop. Figures here are drawn from parliamentary replies and agency statements and will shift as newer official data is published — check the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry and MATRADE for the current numbers.