China is not the first place you’d think of when it comes to growing durians compared to Southeast Asia, but Hainan Island aims to change that.
In Hainan’s first-ever durian conference, a set of durians went for a whopping S$72,300 (388,888 yuan).
The auctioned durians had their first bid at S$165.
Durians have only been harvested this year in Hainan after they were first planted in March 2020.
TikTok user @louisong14 reposted a video on TikTok of the auction, which was held at a durian conference in Hainan on Tuesday (25 July).
The starting price of about 6.91kg of durian was 888 yuan (S$165).
Bidders could raise the amount at will, meaning they can quote any amount they wish.
The bid quickly rose dramatically, shooting above 10,000 yuan (S$1,861), then 30,000 yuan (S$5,585), then 100,000 yuan (S$18,618).
Finally, according to China News Service, Jilin Sendian Food Company, Ltd put in the winning bid of 388,888 yuan (S$72,404).
Source: China News Service via Oriental Daily
Deputy general manager Gao Fenglin said the company will develop the ripe durian market as one of its main businesses.
He also hopes that Hainan can grow more high-quality durians to meet the needs of domestic consumers.
China News Service reports that the durian conference was the first-ever held in Hainan.
Almost five tons of durians were prepared, including Golden Pillows, Musang King and Kan Yao durians.
Kan Yao is a Thai variety and is reportedly related to Musang King. It has a reputation for being one of the most expensive in the world, able to be sold for US$48,000 (S$63,883).
All of the durians were planted in Sanya by Hainan Youqi Agriculture.
A guest who tried five varieties said that two “exceeded expectations”, while another three weren’t as good.
However, he noted that three-year trees can be considered top in the class, even in Southeast Asia.
Hainan Youqi Agriculture planted around 1,300 acres of durian — 50 fruits a day.
Source: News.cn
The annual output is around 40 tons.
Du Baizhong, the general manager at Hainan Youqi Agriculture, said, “It really isn’t easy to grow durians in Hainan.”
Mr Du started planting durians in March 2020 in Sanya and even became the president of the Durian Association in Hainan.
According to an associate researcher at the Institute of Tropical Crops Variety Resources of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, the mature Golden Pillow durian grown domestically can achieve a richer flavour than imported products in Southeast Asia.
This is because the durians are fresher as compared to imported ones.
However, large-scale commercial durian planting in China isn’t a thing yet.
According to Sina News, domestic durians are only sold on e-commerce platforms and cost much more than imported durians.
Because of this, the industry still mainly relies on imports.
As a result, prices will not drop significantly in the short term.
However, the planting of more durian trees should reduce prices.
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Featured image adapted from China News Service via Oriental Daily.
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