The Philippine durian exporters' association has outlined a plan to raise its competitiveness in the China market by growing a variety called Golden Puyat. A Vietnamese agriculture and environment newspaper reported it on September 25, 2026. The stage presented for competing with Thai and Vietnamese product is the China market. Exporters are said to have Singapore and Japan in their sights and to be exploring expansion into Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and the US as well, but the original article does not touch on quarantine conditions for Japan.
Even so, it is worth reading for procurement managers who draw fruit raw material from Vietnam. Setting the figures from the Philippine side alongside the purchase prices that appeared on the Vietnamese side within the same September, the risk of fixing your supply source to a single country and what you can actually obtain if you look for a substitute now come into separate view.
The 150,000 tonnes the exporters' association put out is still a forecast for fiscal 2026/27
15,000 ha at 10 tonnes/ha, with 40 to 50% going to export
What the original conveys as the Philippine durian exporters' association's account is that the cultivation area is currently about 15,000 ha and production will reach 150,000 tonnes in fiscal 2026/27 forecast— these two points. The 150,000 tonnes is a projected figure, not an actual result, and mistaking this means reading the region's strength a year ahead of itself.
Divided by area, that is 10 tonnes per ha. It is written that 40 to 50% may be exportable, so the volume suited to export comes to 60,000 to 75,000 tonnes. This is a figure the writer derived by dividing the announced values, not an export volume the association published.
90% of exports go to China, yet its share in China is under 1%
The original offers another set of numbers. China has long been the Philippines' export destination, accounting for about 90% of the country's total durian exports. Yet the share of Philippine product seen in the China market does not reach 1%. Hence the reading presented is that there is still room in China.
The two do not contradict. An asymmetry appears in which China is nearly the entire volume for the sending side but a trivial volume for the receiving side. For the Philippines to target China is not a story of opening a new market but of increasing its share within a partner it already sends 90% to.
Golden Puyat is at the planning stage, and shipping is far off
The comparison partners the original named are Monthong and Musang King
What the original writes as the association's view is that Thailand holds the China durian market with Monthong, Vietnam also supplies Monthong to China, and Malaysia has succeeded in branding Musang King. Hence the sequence is that the Philippines is drawing up a plan to grow Golden Puyat.
What the original compares are these three varieties, and what it wrote about Vietnam is a single line as a supplier of Monthong. Lining up varieties that were not mentioned and discussing their superiority would manufacture a rivalry that is not in the original article.
The planning stage and the shipping stage are not on the same line
The original calls Golden Puyat a 'variety' and cites it as an object of development planning. Whether it is a landrace or a registered variety, and the breeding method, years, and budget, cannot be pinned down from this one sentence.
What is settled goes only as far as the existence of a plan. Establishing the variety, spreading it in growing regions, quarantine procedures, and actual shipping move as separate stages. Reading it a notch higher leads to treating it as a supply source to put into next year's procurement plan.
Canada gets a 300-kg trial airlift, France continues weekly
Two shipments total 920 kg, of which durian is 600 kg
The scale at which expansion beyond China is moving can be checked in the Philippine Department of Agriculture's announcements. An announcement dated September 23, 2026 states that on that day 300 kg of fresh durian and 120 kg of mangosteen departed for Vancouver, and that on the 24th 300 kg of durian and 200 kg of mangosteen were scheduled to be sent to Toronto. Including the scheduled portion, the total is 920 kg, of which durian is 600 kg, all airlifted on Philippine Airlines flights.
The Department of Agriculture writes this as a trial shipment. The buyer is Canada's Fresh Makers Ltd. The same announcement also explains that exporters have completed three air shipments of fresh durian to France and continue weekly shipments. The stages are written separately as France ongoing, Canada trial.
The route for getting it out of Mindanao becomes the wall
The source article cites logistics as the wall to expansion beyond China. The point is that most Philippine durian is grown in Mindanao, so exporters face a complex route from the growing region to international markets. The 300-kg-unit airlifts appear continuous with this constraint.
The original also writes that the Philippine durian industry took part for the first time in Asia Fruit Logistica and drew customers from Germany, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, and the US. At the same exhibition, the time 22 companies lined up from Vietnam, compared side by side, shows that the business-card-exchange stage and the stage of being able to turn containers are better counted separately.
The Vietnamese side: US$1.8 billion in seven months, of which China is US$1.65 billion
China dependence: by ratio, 90% of exports; for Vietnam, about 92% by value
Align the basis of comparison. What the same newspaper, dated September 17, 2026, conveyed as Vietnamese customs figures is that January-to-July 2026 durian exports were about US$1.8 billion, up 47% year on year, of which China was about US$1.65 billion, up 57%. Dividing 16.5 by 18 gives about 92%.
The Philippines' China dependence is about 90% of export volume, Vietnam's about 92% by value. Because the bases differ between volume and value they cannot be lined up strictly, but both lean entirely on China. Subtracting US$1.65 billion from US$1.8 billion leaves the remainder — that is, all markets other than China combined — at about US$150 million. Vietnam's move to widen its dependence is the story of opening a hole in China dependence with the opening of the Indian market is summarized there. Note that the same newspaper also writes that the secretary-general of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association mentioned the possibility of exceeding US$1 billion in September alone for the first time, but this is a forecast, not an actual result.
Dak Lak's purchase prices split into two layers: at the field and at the warehouse
The same article gives Dak Lak's purchase prices by stage. Read without mixing the trading stages, it shows how the region's prices build up.
| Trading stage | Category | Levels as of September 17, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| At the field (mixed purchase) | No sorting | 58,000 to 60,000 dong per kg |
| At the field (mixed purchase) | Orchards with older trees and uniform fruit | About 65,000 dong per kg |
| Prices at export-buying companies | Dona Grade A | 83,000 to 85,000 dong per kg |
| Prices at export-buying companies | Dona Grade B | 63,000 to 65,000 dong per kg |
| Prices at export-buying companies | High-quality lots | 95,000 to 100,000 dong per kg |
| Prices at export-buying companies | Ri6 Grade A | 55,000 to 60,000 dong per kg |
Because yen conversions vary with how the rate is taken, these are left in the original dong. In some regions prices rose 10,000 to 15,000 dong per kg from September 10, and on some days moved 1,000 to 3,000 dong. It was a period when the Chinese side moved to secure supply ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day.
The same newspaper cautions that the 80,000-to-100,000-dong level is not a price applied to an orchard's entire volume, and conveys, as a cooperative representative's explanation, that this is mainly the price for Grade 1 at the warehouse. Grades 2 and 3 are 20,000 to 35,000 dong per kg lower than Grade 1. The representative gives an example that even when Grade 1 is quoted at 70,000 dong per kg, factoring in the proportion of Grades 2 and 3 and various costs, a mixed purchase can come to anywhere from the 40,000-dong range to about 50,000 dong. The story of how grade composition moves the actual price is the phase in which rising yields lowered the Grade A ratio covered there.
Three points to confirm this autumn in Japanese frozen-durian procurement
A cooperative representative said the Vietnamese side's frozen stocks are full
In the same Vietnamese-side article, there is testimony that the volume routed to freezing was quite large earlier and that many warehouses are now full. Meanwhile, the explanation is that fresh fruit meeting export standards has decreased, which works to push up purchase prices. From the standpoint of drawing on frozen, it becomes a phase where a period of thick stocks and a period of thinning fresh fruit overlap.
The original writes neither that prices will rise nor fall from here, and the writer cannot say either. But whether stocks are thick or thin is always an item to ask before negotiating, and this time the local paper offers a clue. It is also worth noting the statement that the harvest remains at a stage in some areas of Dak Lak.
If considering Philippine product, ask about transport means and the volume that can be shipped at once
Whether to put Philippine product on the shortlist is decided by logistics before variety. What can be confirmed for Canada and France is airlifts in units of a few hundred kilograms, and the Department of Agriculture itself writes 'trial shipment.' On frozen, there is an announcement that in February 2025 a company in Davao City received export approval for frozen pulp and paste from the General Administration of Customs of China and sent 1,050 boxes of pulp and 300 boxes of paste, worth about 8.2 million pesos, to Guangzhou. It is a deal from more than a year and a half ago, and because the box weights are not given, a unit price cannot be derived.
The order of questions is set. Can it ship by sea container or only by air, how much per shipment, and is the freezing equipment in-house? Until these are filled in, it is better not to move on to price.
Align which stage a quote's price is for before comparing
Where accidents happen in comparing two or more regions is when prices from different stages are lined up. In the Dak Lak example, on the same day in the same region, the at-field 58,000 to 60,000 dong and the at-warehouse high-quality-lot 95,000 to 100,000 dong hold at the same time. If you narrow the next deal to one thing to do, start by having them align in writing, at the point you receive a quote, which stage this price is for and what percentage of Grade A it assumes. However the Philippine plan progresses, a quote missing those two lines is no basis for comparing regions.
Articles and announcements referenced
- Philippines phát triển giống sầu riêng mới 'đấu' sầu riêng Thái Lan, Việt Nam (agriculture and environment newspaper, September 25, 2026)
- Nguồn cung thu hẹp, giá sầu riêng tăng trở lại (agriculture and environment newspaper, September 17, 2026)
- Philippine durian, mangosteen make fresh push into Canada (Philippine Department of Agriculture, September 23, 2026)
- Philippines' first frozen durian shipment reaches China (Philippine Department of Agriculture, February 20, 2025)
