BEIJING, Aug 27 — Fresh Malaysian durians will be on sale at selected retail outlets in six provinces, Beijing, Zhengzhou, Shanghai, Guanzhou, Shengzen and Nanning, in China beginning yesterday.

Malaysia’s Ambassador to China Datuk Norman Muhamad said the process of exporting fresh durians has begun following approval from the General Administration of Customs, China (GACC) on June 19.

"I’m also proud to announce that fresh durians are available in Chinese markets from today. The durians comply with the strict phytosanitary measures set by GACC to ensure they remain fresh and meets food safety standards,” he said during a speech at the launch of the Taste Of Malaysia 2024 programme in a supermarket here, which was attended by Deputy Chief de Mission in Beijing, Norfarina Mohd Azmee.

He added that Malaysia had previously only exported durians as frozen whole fruit and pulp, paste and as agrofood products.

On the Taste Of Malaysia 2024 programme, Norman said it would be held for 10 days from Aug 23 to Sept 1 and aimed to promote high quality Malaysian products in China.

"Throughout the programme, various Malaysian products will be highlighted, including durian, Old Town White Coffee, Sabah traditional snacks, amplang, light food and cooking pastes,” he told the media after the launch, adding that they hoped to bring more Malaysian products to China.

"We are making plans together with various agencies and Matrade (Malaysia External Trade Development) here. We will look at what we can bring over.

"China has a very huge market and it’s rather sophisticated now, so we will continue to look for suitable products,” he added.

National durian exports from 2018 to 2022 was encouraging, and had increased by 256.3 per cent or RM822.8 million, and that Malaysian durian exports globally had hit RM1.14 billion - the highest ever - in 2022. — Bernama