The "durian blind box" with a brush screen has taught many people the secret of picking durian, but people hesitate for a long time in the rising and falling prices, for fear that they will be copied halfway up the mountain like buying stocks and funds in the past.
Author | Xiaoyang
Edit | Lu Yiming
Title map | Figure worm creativity
Durian in Thailand, durian in Vietnam, durian in Hainan … In June, various varieties of "durian blind box" began to be listed on a large scale.
However, after a catty of durian is shelled, the edible durian meat will be 342 at most. If you want to eat a catty of golden pillow durian meat, you will have to spend at least hundreds of dollars.
Therefore, in order to choose the "rewarding durian" with thin skin and much meat, many durian lovers follow the online raiders and practice hard. Those who haven’t learned it have also found the "cheating artifact" and borrowed the subway security equipment to count how many rooms durian has.
In order to find "repay the durian", netizens have gone crazy. (Photo/Little Red Book @ Yang Yang or Yang Yang)
Everything is ready, just waiting for the price of durian to come down. At this critical moment, the topic of "durian is expensive" has frequently rushed to hot search.
Looking back at the end of April, durian came into the market in summer, and it was still a clever look. At that time, the hot search was that "the wholesale price of durian dropped to 20 yuan by 1 kg". By the end of May, the national average price of durian exceeded 45 yuan/kg, and a Thai golden pillow durian cost more than 200 pieces. In June, the price of "King of Fruits" dropped slightly, but it still failed to meet the expectations of netizens.
In mid-June, the first batch of Hainan durians will be listed soon. Is it expected to bring down the price? With the arrival of summer, durian matures in large quantities. Do we have a chance to realize "durian freedom"?
"I haven’t found the durian,
I was first retaliated by the price of durian. "
From May to August every year, a large number of durians will be mature and listed. According to the law of previous years, the price of durian will fall after the May Day holiday, but this year it is "abnormal".
According to official website of Guangzhou Jiangnan Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Market, the wholesale price of imported durian hovered at 23 yuan/kg at the beginning of May this year, and then the price rose instead of falling. On May 17th, it broke through the average price of 25 yuan per catty, and continued to approach 30 yuan on May 29th, reaching 29.7 yuan/catty, with a monthly increase of about 30%.
In June, the wholesale price of imported durian dropped from a high level to the level of about 25 yuan per catty, but it has not yet fallen to the price of a month ago. According to China News Network, the wholesale price of durian imported from China in 2014 and 2015 can be as low as 9.9 yuan per catty.
From May 1st to June 7th, the wholesale price trend of imported durian. (Photo/Xiaoyang)
Why is the price of durian so abnormal this year? Some people say that after Simba sold durian live, the price of durian rose from more than 20 pieces to more than 30 pieces, pointing out that the price of durian was "Simba hit it by himself". Later, the Guangzhou General Administration of Market Supervision came out to refute the rumor, saying that there was no evidence that Simba monopolized the market.
According to the statistics of China Customs, in 2022, the total import volume of durian in China was 825,000 tons, of which 780,000 tons came from Thailand. Simba’s live durian sales volume is about 4,800 tons, which is only equivalent to 0.61% of Thailand’s durian imports in the whole year.
Online celebrity can sell durian, but it is not enough to shake the price of durian. (Photo/@ Lucky Little Curly)
What really drives the price of durian is not a few online celebrity, but the invisible hand of the market.
The price of durian fluctuates obviously with the season. Thailand’s golden pillow producing areas are distributed in eastern and southern Thailand. At the beginning of this year, the durian season in eastern Thailand started one month earlier than before, and ended earlier accordingly. By mid-May, it had reached the end of the durian season. The production season in southern Thailand will not start until the middle and early June. The time difference between the two real estate seasons also led to a small supply of gold pillows in Thailand in May and a high purchase price.
There is no supply of origin there, but the demand here is rising all the way. As early as before Simba’s live broadcast, durian had already become a traffic password, camped in the hearts of foodies, and its value rose.
Many new durian controllers said that the happiest thing is not to eat durian, but to open durian. "The family who understand, open to repay durian! There are actually 6 rooms of pulp! " After gambling on stones and opening pearl mussels, "opening durian blind box" has also become a short video content of explosion.
According to the observation of DT Finance, the number of Tik Tok topics # Surprise of peeling durian by hand # reached 540 million, and # It’s the season of opening durian blind box # reached 430 million. Xiaohongshu’s notes related to "durian blind box" reached 11,700 in the past month.
Whether it is a big "reward durian" or a small "revenge durian" comparable to durian sugar, it is presented in an instant when the box is opened. (Photo/@ Little Red Book)
Netizen @ A durian tree can accurately predict the growth of pulp before opening durian every time. She also invented cute and cute words such as "cream sharp", "abdominal muscle grain" and "pyramid dull" to refine the formula for picking durian.
Netizens have come up with the strength to prepare for the college entrance examination, and handed in their homework to the "durian tree teacher" from a distance. Every time durian is opened, those "schoolmasters" will also calculate the fruit rate and the gains and losses of durian selection.
After listening to the "cream tip", I found that every thorn of durian is full of personality. (Figure/@ A durian tree)
There are advertisements implanted in short videos, and durians are sold in live broadcasts. In recent years, there are also special offline durian family time and durian theme snack bars. The more familiar you are, the more you will like it, which is called "seeing more" in psychology. With the ubiquity of durian marketing, the domestic durian consumer market is growing rapidly.
According to the statistics of China Customs, from January to March 2023, the import of fresh durian in China was 91,400 tons, up about 154% year-on-year. In the first quarter of this year, 22.2 million durians entered the China market. Durian has a good chance to crush cherries again and win the top spot in China’s imported fruits.
Why is durian always so expensive?
After learning to pick durian, the only thing that prevents netizens from eating this delicious one is the high price.
The good news is that in June, the first batch of Hainan durians will be mature and listed, and durians in southern Thailand and Vietnam will also enter the peak season simultaneously, and the fresh fruit durians in the three places will be positive. With the increase of supply, the average price of durian in the first week of June has dropped from the end of May.
The not-so-good news is that the price of durian can’t fall to the level of 9 yuan and 9 yuan.
About 96% of durian eaten in China is imported from Thailand. Since durian depends on imports, transportation costs will naturally be added to the planting cost. Durian from Thailand will be picked when it is 78% mature, and it will gradually mature on the way to China.
Thai durian has to be picked before it is ripe. (Figure/Figure Worm Creativity)
If the transportation time is long or the picking time is not properly handled, durian will open its mouth in advance when it arrives in the hands of consumers in China, and the bad fruit rate is not a small cost.
Since everyone loves durian, why don’t we plant some durian ourselves? It’s not that I don’t want to, but that it’s more difficult.
Half a century ago, Hainan introduced the seedlings of durian with golden pillow, and planned to cultivate them locally. Unfortunately, the domestic durian with stable mass production and good flavor has not been harvested.
Durian is very picky about the planting environment. Durian trees love hot and humid weather, and can grow trees and blossom in Dongguan, Guangdong, but the temperature is very strict in the fruiting season, and it is difficult to stabilize the fruit in Wanning, Hainan.
Even in Southeast Asia, the yield of durian is related to the weather in the first phase. It rains when flowering, which affects pollination; As a result, it was difficult to pick when it was flooded. Unstable output will also cause price fluctuations.
Durian needs careful care from flowering to fruiting. (Photo/Wikipedia)
Now that durian is born in Hainan, can you beat down the price?
First of all, if you want to beat the price of durian, the young Hainan durian is not strong enough. Domestic durians in Hainan have been listed from the end of June to August, but ordinary consumers may not be able to buy domestic durians.
At present, durian trees in Hainan are still young trees, and the results are not too many. Our country consumes 700,000 tons of durian a year. This year, the output of durian in Hainan is expected to be less than 1,000 tons, which is not enough for the national "durian control".
In an interview with the media, durian growers in Hainan revealed that their varieties include golden pillow, black thorn, Maoshanwang, etc., and the initial price is 50 yuan a catty.
In addition, these new fruits also shoulder the heavy responsibility of opening up the market. Some of them will go to potential wholesale agents, while others will stay in orchards to entertain tourists.
I used to eat durian in Southeast Asia. Will it be popular to open durian in Hainan in the future? (Photo/Fruit Biography)
Secondly, because it is imported fruit, the domestic pricing power of durian price is mainly in the hands of large wholesalers. The bargaining power of some Internet fresh-keeping platforms is ok, and they can get lower purchase prices, but after the brand premium, it is not necessarily cheap in the hands of consumers.
Small wholesalers have no bargaining power, and neither do small and medium-sized fruit shops. Ordinary people buying durian is like opening a blind box; Small fruit merchants sell durian, just like betting on size. Considering the high wholesale price and the deterioration of durian mouth, many small fruit shops are afraid to purchase.
Looking back on 2021, durian fruit merchants earned money by luck in the first half of the year, and lost it in the second half of the year, and sold it for a lonely year. Of course, many other expensive fruit transactions are also played by heartbeat.
The most important thing is the rising willingness to consume. From 2017 to 2022, the number of durian imported from Thailand in China increased fourfold.
The total import of durian in China is increasing year by year. (Photo/Ruiku Research Center)
Since 2016, the market demand of durian in China has been increasing rapidly. According to industry estimates, at that time, the sales of the whole fruit industry in China increased at an annual rate of 9%, while durian increased at a rate of 20% to 30%.
The purchasing price of durian in Thailand has soared together with the market demand in China. In 2013, the purchase price of a catty of durian in Thailand was about RMB 5 yuan. In 2017, the price of durian in Thailand soared to 30 yuan.
This rise, the price has never come down, has been maintained at 13-15 yuan per catty. This is only the purchase price of durian in Thailand, and it will double when it enters China’s retail market. In 2021, the purchasing price of durian in Thailand is in 17 yuan per catty, and the retail price can reach more than 50 yuan per catty.
If you really want to find out the behind-the-scenes pusher of durian’s rise, I am afraid it can only be all domestic foodies who have been fascinated by durian.
Durian freedom,
How can it be achieved?
In fact, behind every durian, there are a group of people who struggle for "durian freedom".
They build and operate transnational railways to make every durian fresher. According to CCTV, since the opening of China-Laos Railway in April this year, the time for transporting durian from Thailand to China has been greatly shortened, reaching Kunming in three days, which is about half of that by sea or truck.
The "Durian Train" from Madapu Station in Thailand to Guangzhou in China broke the fastest record of transporting fruit from Thailand to China, and the loss of fresh fruit caused by long-term transportation was also greatly reduced. Although the price of durian has been repeated in May, the decline in the cost of durian in Thailand is an irreversible trend.
Sitting in China-Laos Railway or a direct cargo ship, durian came. (Figure/Figure Worm Creativity)
In addition to speeding up land transportation, sea durian is also smoother. Guangzhou Nansha Port has 15 direct flights to Thailand durian every week, and it takes only 4 days for fresh durian to be transported from Linchaban Port in Thailand to Nansha Port.
According to the report of Guangzhou Daily, the price of durian will be more than 20% cheaper than that of Shangchao market because the intermediate logistics and distribution links are omitted and the goods are picked up directly next to the cargo ship in Nansha Port.
They talk about trade cooperation with Southeast Asian countries so that Chinese people can eat durian all year round. In addition to the familiar Thai gold pillows, Ganyao imported from Vietnam was also available in the domestic market in May.
From July, 2022, China allowed Vietnamese fresh durian to be imported. This is the result of four years of negotiations between China and Vietnam, during which hundreds of local plantations were organized to study durian in order to meet the food standards of China.
Viet Nam is adjacent to the border with China, and the transportation distance is shorter. From the durian producing area in Vietnam to Kunming in China, it can be delivered in one and a half days at the earliest, which greatly reduces the transportation cost and loss. Therefore, the price of durian in Vietnam is cheaper than that of durian in Thailand, which can better satisfy friends who love durian but have little budget.
According to the statistics of Vietnam’s agricultural department, the total export of durian in Vietnam in 2022 was close to US$ 400 million, of which US$ 300 million came from the wallets of China consumers.
Since last year, Vietnamese durian has also come to China. (Figure/Figure Worm Creativity)
Following Viet Nam, Philippine durian also knocked on the door of China market. At the beginning of April this year, the first batch of Philippine durians arrived in Shanghai by plane, officially starting the trip of Philippine fresh durians to China. It is reported that the import of frozen durian from Cambodia is also being actively tested.
With the increase of durian import sources, it will not only fill the gap of durian peak season in different places, but also ensure that consumers in China can "durian return" all year round, and introduce more competitors, which is expected to lower the price of durian in the near future.
Although the yield of durian made in Hainan is not high at present, the prospect is bright. Hainan durian is expected to become a kind of "ripe durian on the tree", which saves the complexity of transnational transportation and is fresher than durian imported from Southeast Asia.
According to experts’ estimation of fruit planting in Hainan, durian in Hainan will grow to 100,000 mu in three to five years, and the price is expected to stabilize at more than 10 yuan per catty when it reaches "350,000 mu".
The era of cheap durian may be in the near future.
Proofreading: Yang Chao, operation: Lu Zirui, typesetting: Qiu Meiru
[1] Imported durian overtook cherries, and the fruit "Top Flow" competition became more intense. First Financial News, 20230423.
[2] Does Simba bring goods to increase the price of durian? Durian wholesaler: influential, but not the main reason, interface news, 20230512
[3] The wholesale price of durian has dropped to more than 20 yuan per catty. Can it be reduced to the previous 9.9 yuan? , China News Network, 20230509
[4] The first batch of Hainan durians went on the market in June. How far are we from realizing "durian freedom"? , Xin Nong Ming, 20230525
[5] How to find a watermelon to repay? Guide to eating melons scientifically, Li Li Li, 20220813
[6] Open the durian blind box, a new type of scratch music for young people, DT Finance, 20230528.
Original title: "King of Fruit in online celebrity, I feel expensive when I smell it."
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