Indonesia eyes 8 bln USD from durian trade to Chinese market

JAKARTA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia, one of the world's leading producers and exporters of durian, aims to increase the value of its durian farming across the archipelago, particularly for the Chinese market. To achieve this, the country plans to conduct further research on "the king of fruits" and expand its plantations.

Recently, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Indonesia's coordinator for cooperation with China and coordinating minister of maritime affairs and investment, visited China to deepen bilateral trade.

Luhut highlighted the potential export value of durian to China, which could amount to 8 billion U.S. dollars, on his official social media account on Tuesday.

Amid the growing demand for the exotic fruit in the Chinese market, the Indonesian government has made an arrangement involving the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) to conduct a study to ensure high-quality durians for export, as one of the steps to achieve the target.

Luhut also said that the Indonesian government was already building about 100 hectares of durian plantations situated in the provinces of North Sumatra and West Papua, and was planning to build more in other provinces, including in Central Sulawesi.

Those locations, he believed, can grow durian trees that can produce durians demanded by the Chinese market.

According to data from Statistics Indonesia, the archipelago last year produced up to 1.85 million tons of durians and more than 50 percent of total production came from the island of Java. East Java province is reported to be the largest durian producer in the country, with production amounting to more than 480,000 tons last year.

Meanwhile, the country's Ministry for Trade had reported that in 2022 Indonesia exported durians to China with the value amounting to 4.5 billion dollars and in 2023 the value increased to 6.7 billion dollars.

As China's appetite for durian continues to increase, the export value could likely increase again with an estimate of around 7 billion dollars, said the ministry's Director General of National Export Development, Didi Sumedi, in early April.

Over the past several years, the Indonesian government has been calling on farmers in the country to grow durian trees since the fruit has become a valuable commodity.

Five years ago, President Joko Widodo called on oil palm tree growers across the country to diversify their business and grow durian trees, as he believed that durian had better prospects in the international market than crude palm oil.

Indonesia is the world's largest producer of palm oil and the advice was given by the president amid low demand and the price decrease of crude palm oil in the global market. He said that China had high durian demand, however, most of its supply was not sourced from Indonesia.