Durian faces 'red alert' from China, Association Chairman sends letter to Minister

Regarding the inspection and control of banned substances such as yellow O and Cadmium in durian exported to China, the leader of the Dak Lak Durian Association has just had a "letter of the heart" sharing about the shortcomings in this billion-dollar industry chain. "Struggling" to find a place to issue codes for customs clearance In a "letter of the heart" sent to the Minister of Agriculture and Environment, Mr. Vu Duc Con, Chairman of the Dak Lak Durian Association, affirmed that China is the main market for fresh Vietnamese fruits, including durian. Since Vietnam signed the protocol on plant quarantine to officially export fresh durian to China, businesses, cooperatives and farmers have all hoped that export activities will go smoothly and bring in good profits.

The export turnover of durian in 2024 will reach 3.2 billion USD, showing that this is a potential industry, bringing high value and requiring attention and thorough investment: from building and planning raw material areas, packaging factories that meet food safety conditions of importing countries to transparent export processes, and traceability of product origin.

Mr. Con said that since 2024, China has discovered that both Vietnamese and Thai durians are contaminated with cadmium. Then, China discovered yellow O (a substance that can cause cancer) on Thai durians at the end of last year. Therefore, Chinese customs requires 100% of shipments to have a certificate of cadmium and yellow O before being cleared. If residues of these banned substances are found, the packing facility codes and growing area codes will be suspended.

Exporting to China is difficult, durian prices have dropped sharply. Photo: MK

To date, China has revoked about 55 durian growing area codes and 61 packing facility codes from Vietnam. Notably, from September 2023 to present, the Plant Protection Department (now the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection) has continuously introduced new growing areas and packing facilities but they have not been approved by China.

The total durian area in our country has increased to 150,000 hectares. However, the area granted codes is only about 20%, not commensurate with Vietnam's actual export capacity.

The Chairman of the Dak Lak Durian Association also pointed out that the testing centers for O-yellow and Cadmium substances are recognized by China to conduct testing of export shipments, but due to the continuous recall of goods, testing is facing many difficulties.

Businesses struggle to find and connect with laboratories when there are export shipments.

According to the association’s leader, the durian capital of the Central Highlands is preparing for the main harvest season with a large output. In Dak Lak alone, this year’s durian output is estimated at around 500,000 tons. If the issue of inspection and control of banned substances is not resolved, export activities will face many difficulties.

Need to red alert garden violations

Faced with the above situation, the Dak Lak Durian Association recommends that the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources review and inspect the implementation process of granting and managing growing area codes and packaging facility codes for exporting agricultural products to China in the past time.

At the same time, research and develop legal regulations related to growing area codes and packaging facility codes according to regulations so that the issuance and management of codes are convenient and transparent, creating maximum conditions for export activities and handling related violations. Thereby, protecting potential industries with high export value, as well as protecting the reputation of Vietnamese agricultural products.

For high-risk, violating growing areas, there are conclusions from the investigation of the cause by the authorities, and it is necessary to delimit the red alert area. After that, there will be solutions regarding the cultivation process.

Strengthen propaganda for people to raise awareness in farming, ensure food safety and consumer health.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources needs to research and develop export standards for durian as well as standards for the domestic market. Along with that, apply science and technology to calculate the required age, check the food safety indicators of each region and each garden before exporting and bringing them to the domestic market for consumption.

For exported durian shipments that violate regulations on banned substances, the authorities should have solutions to handle them. If they exceed the permitted threshold and affect the health of consumers, they must be destroyed, instead of allowing the goods to "return" to be consumed in the domestic market. This is also a necessary deterrent measure, contributing to improving compliance of production facilities.

While waiting for the authorities to find a solution to maintain the market for the Dak Lak durian industry, Mr. Vu Duc Con said that the association has cooperated with the Central Highlands Agricultural and Forestry Science and Technology Institute.

In the immediate future, sampling will be organized to assess the situation of cadmium and yellow O contamination throughout the province, as well as to find the origin and cause of the residue of banned substances on durian to have appropriate solutions. In the long term, a set of basic standards of Dak Lak will be built to proactively control the quality of durian products.

According to vietnamnet.vn

Source: https://baoapbac.vn/kinh-te/202505/sau-rieng-gap-bao-dong-do-tu-trung-quoc-chu-tich-hiep-hoi-gui-tam-thu-den-bo-truong-1043090/