China warns against Vietnamese durian and jackfruit

The Plant Protection Department has just announced that it has received a warning from the General Administration of Customs of China regarding a shipment of fresh fruits (including durian and jackfruit) exported from Vietnam. These shipments do not meet plant quarantine and food safety requirements, leading to the risk of affecting the reputation and brand of Vietnamese agricultural products in the international market.

To control this situation, the Department requires localities and relevant units to strengthen inspection and supervision of growing areas and export packaging facilities. The Department also requires the development of plans and organization of food safety supervision and export fruit quality standards at establishments that have been granted codes. Establishments that do not comply with regulations will have their growing area and packaging facility codes temporarily suspended.

Authorities recommend that growing areas and packaging facilities seriously implement testing for pesticide residues and heavy metals and traceability as mandatory conditions in issuing and maintaining codes. For growing area code holders who do not directly export, it is necessary to notify the provincial specialized agency of the expected export volume and the name of the exporter.

The implementation period for these measures begins from January 20.

Previously, at the end of December 2024, the European Union announced that it would increase the frequency of inspection of Vietnamese durian at the border from 10% to 20% from January 8, 2025. This decision was made after discovering that many active pesticide residues exceeded the allowable threshold according to European standards.

At the end of December 2024, the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association issued an urgent notice, strongly protesting the fraud and illegal copying of export codes of durian growing areas and packaging facilities for durian. These subjects used fake authorization contracts, fake seals and signatures to defraud businesses and bypass authorities, in order to profit and illegally export to China.

In 2024, many batches of Vietnamese durian were contaminated with cadmium, forcing China to return them. This also causes the price of Vietnamese durian to fall sharply at times.

In 2024, Vietnamese durian export turnover will reach 3.3 billion USD, an increase of more than 1 billion USD compared to the previous year. This is a spectacular step forward as durian accounts for nearly 50% of the country’s total fruit and vegetable export turnover. China is the market with up to 90% market share.

Vietnam expects this number to continue to increase to 3.5 billion USD in 2025, contributing to bringing the total fruit and vegetable export turnover to 8 billion USD and getting closer to the target of 10 billion USD in the near future.