GEORGE TOWN, June 3 — This year’s three-month durian season in Penang is expected to generate more than RM1 billion in durian sales revenue this year.
Penang Agrotechnology, Food Security and Cooperative Development Committee chairman Fahmi Zainol said the season this year is longer as it will start in June and is expected to last till August, which means durian sales will triple.
“Last year, the durian production was 20,082 metric tonnes and if the value was at RM15 per kilogramme, this meant the sales was RM301 million last year,” he said.
He said the RM301 million was only for domestic sales and did not include durians that were exported overseas.
He said durian season was only one month, in June last year, so if the production is tripled this year, it will bump up sales of up to RM1 billion.
“This is based on an average sales value of about RM15 per kilogramme for kampung durians, but if we talk about hybrid durians such as Musang King or Ang Heh with sales prices of RM80 per kilogramme, the total sales this year could well be over RM1 billion,” he said in an interview with Malay Mail.
In Penang, the total acreage of durian orchards is 1,734.24 hectares with an average production of over 20,000 metric tonnes annually.
Fahmi said this year, the production will triple to about 60,000 metric tonnes because of the prolonged hot weather conditions.
“We now have two new durian hybrids, Tupai King and Cenderawasih, so we can expect these to be new attractions for durian lovers to come to Penang,” he said.
He said durian season is one of Penang’s main agrotourism attractions that has visitors coming from all over, including Singapore and China.
Penang has also been exporting some of its durians together with other orchards in other states in previous years.
“This year, we have just obtained the approved permit (AP) from the federal government to export durians directly from Penang,” he said.
He said this meant that Penang could expect to export its durians directly to China this season without needing to tag on to other states.
“It will bring in another stream of revenue to spur the state economy,” he said.
Fahmi said the state hopes to apply for more funding from the federal government to incentivise and assist durian farmers so that durian production can be increased in the state.
“Currently, almost RM400,000 in allocations from both state and federal are channeled to durian farms in terms of organic fertiliser, disease control, nets, and infrastructure works such as concrete roads leading into the farms and facilities,” he said.
He said they would need to get more funding to help the farmers so that they could up their production and maybe open up more new durian farms.
