Poor-quality durians on Shanghai roadside not from Thailand, ministry clarifies

Alongkorn Ponlaboot, an adviser to Agriculture Minister Chalermchai Sri-on, said the minister on Monday had told agricultural attachés in China to conduct an urgent investigation after a video clip went viral in China on why Thai durians sold on a roadside in Shanghai were not delicious and appeared to be of poor quality.

The clip was posted on YouTube by a Thai woman living in Shanghai on Saturday. The woman was seen in the clip asking the vendors whether the durians came from Thailand and the vendor confirmed it.

The clip caught the attention of Chalermchai on Monday when some Thai media played it up.

“Once he learned of the clip, the minister instructed the agricultural attachés in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to investigate the matter,” Alongkorn said.

Chalermchai was informed immediately that the agricultural officer of the Thai consulate in Shanghai had rushed to the roadside as seen in the clip to check, but did not find durians being sold there.

The officer then investigated and found that the buyer had bought durians from a vendor who sold the fruit from the back of his truck, not from a regular shop that has quality control.

The mobile vendors drive their trucks around to sell durians on the roadside over weekends and they sold poor-grade durians from Thailand’s neighbouring countries, Alongkorn added.

He said such mobile vendors normally sold low-quality durians on the outskirts of Chinese cities to avoid being checked by the officials and they mostly sold durians that failed to meet quality standards.

The Thai officials checked with wholesale markets and found that the mobile vendors normally bought poor-grade durians in high quantities to sell on the roadside at cheaper prices than quality fruits sold in permanent shops, Alongkorn said.

He said the Thai official also checked with five large durian shops in Shanghai and found that Thai durians are sold at higher prices than durians form Vietnam.

The shops told the agriculture attaché that Thai durians are more delicious and more popular and buyers mostly choose to buy the Thai variety.

The adviser said most consumers could not tell from the appearance which durians came from which countries so they must check certified stickers put on the fruits.

Alongkorn added that the Thai agricultural attachés in China have reminded Thai exporters to make sure their durians are of premium quality in line with the policy of the agriculture minister.

Alongkorn said Chalermchai, who heads the committee in charge of development of Thai fruit quality, has also instructed the three agricultural offices in China to work with other Thai officials there to monitor fake news on Chinese social media that might affect Thailand’s image, especially about the quality of Thai fruit.

Chalermchai also instructed the Agriculture Extension Department, the Agriculture Department, and the Cooperative Promotion Department to coordinate with the provincial governors and other government agencies to make sure that no unripe, no Covid-contaminated, and poor-quality durians would be exported to China.

The departments were asked to work with provincial administrations so that durian farmers and exporters in major durian-growing provinces, such as Chanthaburi, Trat, Rayong, Si Sa Ket, Chumphon and Surat Thani, would develop their brands for traceability.

Alongkorn said traceability is crucial for quality control because Thailand has exported over 700,000 tonnes of durians, or about 210 million durians, to China from February 1 to the middle of this month.