Thai durian well-entrenched in Chinese fruit market, says minister’s adviser
Monthong Durian from Thailand is dominating the Chinese fruit market, but there is also enormous scope for exporting plant-based food to other countries around the world, a senior government official said.
Mallika Boonmeetrakool Mahasook, an adviser to the Minister of Commerce, revealed that fresh durian was China's highest-imported fruit since 2020, with an import volume of 0.575 million tons worth $2.3 billion. It marks a 44 per cent year-on-year increase, accounting for 22.4 per cent of China’s total fruit imports.
At present, China allows the import of fresh durian only from Thailand, especially the Monthong variety. It also imports whole frozen durian from Malaysia, but the quantity is still low, Mallika said. Imports from Malaysia account for less than 10 per cent of the total market volume, while Thailand has a near monopoly with over 90 per cent share.
The majority of consumers — nearly 88 percent — are female, and are among those with high purchasing power, especially those between the ages of 24 and 30, through fruit shops and e-commerce platforms, the adviser said.
Entrepreneurs wishing to export Thai durian to the Chinese market may need to analyse factors related to the demand from such main consumer groups, Mallika said.
In addition, plant-based foods are also in high demand all over the world, especially in developed countries such as the United States, Spain, the United Kingdom, etc, Mallika said.
Two years ago, Spain's sales of the product were worth 448 million euros (Bt16.6 billion), an increase of 48 per cent, with plant-based milk being the most popular product, followed by plant meat products and plant-based yoghurt. Among milk products from plants, oat milk was the top seller, followed by soy milk and almond milk, the adviser said.
In the UK in 2021, plant-based milk sales increased by 28.3 per cent from the previous year, and potato milk is expected to be popular in 2022.
KFC in the United States has responded to the trend by announcing the addition of artificial chicken dishes to its menu. In 2020, the US vegetable-based food market had a retail value of approximately $7 billion, growing 27 per cent year on year, and the market is expected to more than double to around $13.5 billion by 2027.
