Building a sustainable development strategy for Vietnam's durian industry

The conference was co-chaired by Minister of Agriculture and Environment Do Duc Duy and Acting Chairman of Dak Lak Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thien Van.

Minister of Agriculture and Environment Do Duc Duy delivered the opening speech at the conference.

Attending the conference were Dak Lak Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dinh Trung; representatives of leaders of several central ministries and branches and leaders of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of 23 provinces and cities; businesses, cooperatives, durian growers, and testing laboratories across the country...

Minister of Agriculture and Environment Do Duc Duy and Acting Chairman of Dak Lak Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thien Van co-chaired the conference.

The durian industry has become one of the fastest growing and fastest exporting industries in Vietnam in recent years, especially after the signing of the Protocol on Phytosanitary Requirements with China.

Specifically: From 2015 to 2024, the durian area increased rapidly from 32,000 hectares to more than 178,000 hectares in 2024 (an average increase of 16,300 hectares/year). The provinces of Dak Lak, Lam Dong, Tien Giang, Dong Nai and Dak Nong have the largest durian area in the country. Of which, Dak Lak has risen to the top, with an area of ​​over 38,800 hectares, accounting for nearly 22% of the total durian growing area nationwide.

To date, the General Administration of Customs of China has approved 1,527 growing area codes and 299 durian packing facility codes of Vietnam (Dak Lak has 39 packing facilities and 268 growing area codes).

Dak Lak Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dinh Trung and delegates attending the conference.

Export turnover in 2024 has reached more than 3 billion USD, making durian a strategic agricultural export product, making an important contribution to the growth target of the agricultural, forestry and fishery sector.

Vietnam's fresh durian has been exported to 22 countries and territories; frozen products have been exported to 23 countries and territories. Vietnam's main consumption markets are China, Taiwan (China), Hong Kong (China), Japan and the United States... Of which, China is still the largest import market (accounting for 97.2% in 2024).

However, in the first 4 months of 2025, the demand of the Chinese market decreased by 46.5% in volume and 48.1% in value. The reason stems from the trend of cutting spending due to economic difficulties, along with increased control of food safety by importing countries, especially yellow O and cadmium. In particular, from the second half of 2024 and early 2025, China officially allowed Cambodia, Malaysia... to export durian, which partly increased the competition and market share of Vietnamese durian.

Delegates contribute opinions at the conference.

At the conference, delegates focused on discussing key issues such as: analyzing and evaluating the current situation of "hot" growth in production and export of durian; clarifying potential risks if there is a lack of management tools and reasonable regulatory mechanisms; proposing solutions to improve testing capacity, traceability, quarantine and quality control, especially for growing areas and packaging facilities to meet the increasing demands of import markets.

At the same time, propose solutions to organize value chain linkages in durian production in a transparent manner, with binding responsibilities between parties, encouraging businesses to re-invest in raw material areas; suggest long-term solutions for market development strategies, deep processing, building national brands and enhancing competitiveness, as well as creating a position for Vietnamese durian on the world agricultural map...

Minister of Agriculture and Environment Do Duc Duy and his delegation visited the durian growing area in Krong Pac district.

Concluding the conference, Minister of Agriculture and Environment Do Duc Duy emphasized: In addition to the remarkable results, we also frankly acknowledge that the durian industry is currently facing many systemic difficulties and challenges, requiring synchronous and timely handling and resolution.

Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment requests all levels, sectors, localities, enterprises and farmers to seriously implement groups, tasks and solutions according to the direction of the Prime Minister in Official Dispatch No. 71/CD-TTg, dated May 23, 2025 on a number of tasks to promote sustainable durian production and export.

Minister Do Duc Duy proposed that there should be a systematic study to form a sustainable durian industry chain, from production, processing, consumption to building a national brand. At the same time, it is necessary to record the order proposals from businesses to soon concretize them into action programs...

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/kinh-te/202505/xay-dung-chien-luoc-phat-trien-ben-vung-nganh-hang-sau-rieng-viet-nam-c3f0e13/