LAM DONG: CHAIN LINKS TO EXPORT DURIAN FRUIT

Long Thuy Production and Trade Co Ltd., located in Village 6, Loc An Commune, Bao Lam District (Lam Dong Province), is an enterprise specializing in supplying durian fruit for domestic and export markets.

According to Mr. Vo Huy Long - Long Thuy Production and Trading Co., Ltd, because of coming from a pure farmer, growing durian since childhood with his family, he always dream of setting up a company specializing in buying durian from people in the region to supply the domestic market and target the export market. In 2016, the company was established.

Through researching the needs of consumers in the market, Mr. Long realized that Chinese people love to eat durian, even considering this as the king of fruits. They believe that eating durian can bring luck. Realizing the huge potential from the Chinese market, he decided to connect people in Bao Lam and other neighboring districts (Da Huoai, Di Linh, Bao Loc) to buy durian. Initially, when the Company was newly established, durian buying volume was small, the size and design of durian fruit were not uniform, so the Company could only export 10 containers per month (18 tons/1 container) to the Chinese market, with only 40,000 VND/kg.

The potential of the Chinese market is great, but Vietnam's durian fruit to China are often forced to be sold at low price. This price is not as high as Thai goods, although the quality of Vietnamese durian fruit grown in Lam Dong land is almost as equal. Therefore, in early 2018, he decided to fly to Thailand to learn about the producing, preprocessing and processing durian fruits for the Chinese market of local companies. Through studying and learning directly, he has a lot of experience in the design and shape of durian fruit to meet the export market, as well as ensure quality and safety (residue plant protection products). Since then, he has returned home, associated with durian farmers, encouraged and instructed farmers to supply quality durian fruit, to meet the needs of customers.

Through that rewarding field trip, in 2018, the Company's durian output exported to China was constantly increasing, the selling price was also higher than before (60,000 - 70,000 VND / kg, sometimes 130,000 - 150,000 VND/kg). In 2018 alone, the Company exported about 40-45 containers of durian each month, on average 400-450 containers/ year, with an average selling price of 70,000 VND/kg, resulting in the rise in revenue of the company (up to hundreds of billion dong). Thanks to the direct connection with more than 2,000 hectares of durian farmers, cooperative groups, durian growing cooperatives, with an average signed price of 40,000 - 50,000 VND/kg, ensuring a stable supply of goods for the Company to supply the market. Besides, in the Chinese market, Long Thuy Company has its prints in big cities such as Guangdong, Jiangsu, Beijing, Guangzhou, Hanzhou and so on. Output is always stable because the company can sell directly to the customer.

The durian is prepared to be packed into barrels for exportation

The output is stable, so the company confidently asserts that they can affirms that it can buy all the durian output for farmers. However, the biggest difficulty and barrier of the company is that the transportation of durian fruit to China is mainly by small quota, not through official channels, so the cost of transportation is very high, up to 5 or 6 times in comparison to official channels. In addition, the procedure of customs clearance is very complicated. Many durian shipping containers of the company cannot pass the border gate because of lacking documents. Durian therefore can not reach traders and consumers in China, and is forced to bring back to sell at low price or throw away. More over, from the beginning of 2019 until now, the Chinese side has strictly controlled the import through quota, requiring products to be given a planting area code and assigned a mechanical code for traceability process. This cause a lot of difficulties for durian exporters.

Facing that situation, the company is currently cooperating with other agencies in Lam Dong to develop GlobalGAP certification documents, traceability stamps, build a chain system between enterprises and people from production to consumption, to ensure the quality and safety of durian fruit brought to the market in order to support exportation. In addition, recently, Lam Dong Department of Industry and Trade has sent a document to the Ministry of Industry and Trade to request research, review and request the Chinese side to allow importing Vietnamese durian, and has instructed enterprises about the procedures to export durian through official channels to China. Because at present, the whole province of Lam Dong has nearly 7,000 ha of durian cultivation with an output of about 40,000 tons/year, exports are contributing to stabilize the output for this fruit, and are creating income for many farming households.

According to: Lam Dong Agricultural Extension.