Philippines to start shipping durians to China next month

The Philippines will start shipping fresh durians to China in March this year, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said on Thursday.

In a statement, the PCO said Philippine Assistant Agriculture Secretary Arnel De Mesa informed President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos about the shipment schedule during a meeting at the presidential palace on Tuesday.

An initial volume of 7,500 metric tons of durians is ready for shipment to China. The spiky fruit will be sourced from 59 different farmers or producers covering some 400 hectares of production area.

The deal to export durians to China was signed by the Philippines' Department of Agriculture and China's General Administration of Customs during Marcos' visit to Beijing early in January this year. Both sides agreed on a protocol of phytosanitary requirements for exporting fresh durians.

Marcos said the Philippines is ready to meet the demand of the Chinese market. Fresh fruits, including Cavendish bananas, have been the top drivers for Philippine agricultural exports to China.

The PCO said the Davao region in the southern Philippines covers 78 percent of the total durian production in the Southeast Asian country.