Thai Market Overview

Local market season
Durian is a tropical and seasonal fruit like rambutan, mango, longan ,lychee and mangosteen. Thai durian is ready for harvesting during late March to September, and reaches peak season in May to August. This is a result of the variety of durian's species and the difference in planting areas in each province in the country. Moreover, there is also a difference in harvesting and trading times of durian between the eastern and southern parts of the country. March to June is the perfect time for havesting and trading durian from the east, while July to September is the right time for durian from the south of the country.

The system for marketing durian in Thailand
The most important people purchasing durian suppplies are local collectors. Most durian planters sell about 64.74 per cent of their supply to local collectors, 29.15 per cent directly to wholesalers in Bangkok, 2.53 per cent to provincial buyers, 1.0 per cent to exporters, 0.9 per cent to provincial retailers, 0.8 per cent to processors, 0.75 per cent to Bangkok retailers and 0.13 per cent to regional collectors. Wholesalers in Bangkok purchase about 71.74 per cent of total durian output and redistribute about 20.53 per cent of this to provincial comsumers and 47.77 per cent to retailers in Bangkok.

Some exporters buy durian directly from durian planters, while some exporters will buy durain from local collectors. This means exporters act as both seller and collector to foreign markets, while local collectors are important for both wholesale and exporters in Bangkok.

These are the ways that durian growers sell their supplies:

Free sale
Durian planters decide who they will sell their products to. They can sell to anyone who offers an attractive price. Usually, regional collectors and Bangkok wholesalers have more purchasing power than local collectors and provincial retailers.

Sale at the market
Durian growers do not have to sell their supplies via middle men. They can sell directly in wholesale markets near their planting areas. The price of durian is unsteady, and depends on demand from the market and buyers and the amount of supplies in the market at the time.

Durian market situation in 2001
We can classify 3 types of market for Thai durian: fresh durian, frozen durian and durian cake or preserved durian. Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Canada and U.S.A. are major markets for Thai fresh durian. U.S.A., Australia, Canada, Taiwan and Hong Kong are majors markets for Thai frozen durian. Moreover, major buyers for Thai durian cake are Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.

However, the principle problem in Thailand is the low price of supplies. This is because durian output, especially from the eastern part of the country, is always available in the market. This directly affects the price and the durian planters. Moreover, there are reports that many farmers sell supplies which are not ripe enough. This is because they try to avoid a low supply price when there are a lot of durians in the market. Also, there were reports of contaminated durians exported to Hong Kong and China. This affected the price of supplies sold in those countries and tarnished the reputation of Thai durian.