The General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) announced on April 11 that it would allow the import of jackfruit from Malaysia if it meets relevant requirements.

In early 2023, Malaysia's Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) had said it would focus on boosting fruit exports to major countries such as China this year. With the approval of jackfruit export to China, Malaysia has become the third country after Thailand and Vietnam to receive approval for the export of jackfruit to China.

According to the announcement, the quarantine pests of concern to China include starfruit fly, Trichoderma trichoderma, wild borer, new pineapple grey mealy scale, Musca scale, mango protophenacoccus scale, mealy scale of ocephalus, soft rot bacteria and Orpheus.

Comprehensive quality management and traceability system, Good Agricultural Practice (GAP), and integrated pest control (IPM) should be established in jackfruit orchards imported to China under Malaysian supervision. In addition, jackfruit must be culled, washed and graded during the packaging process to ensure it is free of insects, mites, rotten fruit, plant debris and soil. Packers are required to use an air gun or brush to purge the surface of jackfruit one by one to remove mealybugs and other insects on the surface of the fruit. Meanwhile, inspectors from the packaging plant carefully inspect the fruits one by one to remove fruits with surface cracking, breakage, softening, disease and insect infection, rot and other symptoms.

Before export, Malaysia or its authorized personnel shall take samples of each batch of goods for inspection according to the proportion of 2%, and split the samples for suspicious fruit inspection. Unqualified whole batch of goods shall not be exported to China. Upon arrival of jackfruit at Chinese ports, the Chinese Customs can return, destroy or dispose of it if it is found to be substandard.

The most productive fruits in Malaysia are durian, pineapple, banana and watermelon in that order, with papaya, jackfruit, star fruit, mangosteen and guava produced to a lesser extent. The local jackfruit is mainly grown in Pahang, Sembilan and Johor, with a production of around 31,300 tonnes in 2019.

It is known that Malaysia jackfruit has no obvious advantage in variety and taste compared to Thailand and Vietnam, and it is inferior to Thailand and Vietnam in terms of planting scale, labor cost, transportation time and cost. Even if it does gain access to the Chinese market, it will be difficult for Malaysia to command a higher premium in the market.