News tied to China’s increased requirements on durian imports
Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable exports to China dropped 43 per cent in the first two months of 2025, according to reporting from Tuoi Tre News.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development revealed the country exported US$350mn worth of fruit and vegetables in February, bringing the total value for the first two months of 2025 to US$724mn – a drop of over 25 per cent from the US$970mn reached in the same period last year.
According to Tuoi Tre News, China reported the sharpest decrease among Vietnam’s 15 largest export markets, at 43 per cent. The sharp decline is likely due to China’s increased requirements for imported fruit, following the discovery of Auramine O (also known as Basic Yellow 2 or BY2) residue in durian shipments from Thailand late last year.
China now requires all durian exporters to carry out pre-export checks for cadmium and Auramine O at laboratories accredited by China. The changes have caused significant processing delays and fruit has from Vietnam and Thailand has been turned away at the border. There have also been reports of spot checks by Chinese authorities which has delayed the clearance process further.
Tuoi Tre News reported that in the first 40 days of 2025, only 3,500 tonnes of durian was exported to China – an 80 per cent plummet on the prior year.
This situation poses significant risk to Vietnam as durian exports to China accounted for nearly half of the country’s US$7.12bn total fruit export turnover in 2024. This year, Vietnam is expected to harvest about 1.5mn tonnes of durian, mainly from April to September.
Even with the 43 per cent drop in exports, China remains Vietnam’s leading destination for fruit and vegetable products, accounting for 46.5 per cent of the total export value in January and February 2025. The US and Thailand follow in second and third place but with much lower shares of the total at 8 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively.
