On July 1, Malaysia's Minister of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) Shabu said that fresh durian exports from Malaysia to China are expected to start in the third quarter of 2024.

In June this year, China and Malaysia signed the Protocol on Phytosanitary Requirements for the export of fresh durian from Malaysia to China, allowing Malaysia to export fresh durian to China.

MAFS expects it will take two to three months for the Malaysian fresh durian to complete its registration approval with China's General Administration of Customs before it can start exporting to China, which is expected to be in the third quarter of this year. At present, MAFS is finalizing the phytosanitary certificate format with the General Administration of Customs through DOA and submitting to the General Administration of Customs the list of durian farms and existing packaging plants to be exported to China for approval of export codes issued by the General Administration of Customs of China.

In 2022, Malaysia's fruit exports amounted to RM2.01 billion (about $3.10 billion), of which durian accounted for 58.6%. China is Malaysia's main export market for durian, with exports totalling RM887 million (about $1.37 billion) in 2022 and expected to rise to RM1.8 billion (about $2.78 billion) by 2030.