A total of 300,000 musang king durians were bought in less than an hour as part of China-Malaysia online durian festival in the Chinese city of Qinzhou.
According to a report from the South China Morning Post, the flash sale was a precursor to the festival and 60 tonnes of the Malaysian fruit, worth US14.7m, was sold out in 50 minutes and 48 seconds.
The festival was launched with a digital event conducted across multiple sites in Malaysia and China and featured a number of dignitaries including the Malaysian Prime Ministers special envoy to China Tiong King Sing.
Sing said China imported 600,000 tonnes of durian worth US$1.7bn in 2019 with 7,700 tonnes worth, US$67m, coming from Malaysia.
The size of the market means there is potential for Malaysia to grow its durian exports to China, especially once it gains access for fresh durian as it currently only has a protocol for whole frozen durian.
This potential was acknowledged by Datuk Beh Hang Kong, vice-chairman of China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park, who said there was a possibility of establishing a Malaysian durian hub in the estate. The hub would meet supply chain and logistics need and feature a permanent durian bazaar.
'From our research, only about 3 per cent of the Chinese population had tried Malaysian durians. I strongly believe that durian can be a big export for our country,' he said.
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