DAVAO has the trees, the farmers and the fruit. What it lacks is the same weight in the global durian trade.
That gap is growing as Philippine growers push deeper into China, the world's dominant durian market, while Thailand, Vietnam, and other Southeast Asian producers expand their supply.
Emmanuel Belviz, president of the Durian Industry Association of Davao City, presented his Philippine Durian Industry Situationer 2026 at the recently concluded 28th Davao Agri Trade Expo at the SMX Convention Center Davao, offering a straightforward assessment: the Philippine durian industry has moved beyond the question of whether it can enter foreign markets.
“Can we export?” but “Can we compete consistently?” Belviz said in his presentation.
That question captures the new reality facing Davao's durian growers.
The Philippines already has access to China. What comes next is harder: producing consistent quality, getting fruit to market on time, managing logistics and earning enough per kilo to make the export chain worthwhile.
Davao at the center
The Philippines' biggest advantage is its production base, and that base is overwhelmingly in Mindanao.
Data presented by Belviz show the Davao Region accounting for 76.317 percent of Philippine durian production in 2024, while Mindanao and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao together accounted for 99.506 percent.
Asked separately where Philippine durian comes from, Belvis said:
“The majority is from Davao Region, but 97 percent of durian in the Philippines comes from Mindanao,” he said in a Messenger interview with SunStar Davao.
The verbal figure differs from the 2024 production table, but both underscore the same point: Mindanao is the country's durian heartland, with Davao accounting for the largest regional share.
That gives the Philippines a strong production foundation.
But production dominance at home has not translated into a similar position abroad.
A giant trade, a tiny share
Belviz said global durian exports reached about 1.984 million metric tons in 2025, with Thailand accounting for 49.33 percent and Vietnam 48.80 percent. Together, the two countries accounted for 98.13 percent of global export volume.
The Philippines shipped only 3,758 metric tons, or 0.19 percent of global exports, with an export value of about US$7.468 million.
The contrast becomes even sharper in value. Thailand's exports were worth about US$3.83 billion, while Vietnam's reached about US$3.53 billion. Belviz's figures describe a global trade in which export power is concentrated overwhelmingly in those two countries.
For Davao, that creates an uncomfortable paradox: the region grows most of the country's durian, but the Philippines captures only a sliver of the international market.
The next challenge, then, is not simply to produce more.
It is to capture more value from what the country already produces.
China is the prize
That challenge revolves largely around China.
Belviz said China accounted for US$7.48 billion of the US$7.69 billion global durian import value cited in his 2025 trade figures — about 97.2 percent of the world total.
The Philippines gained access to China's fresh durian market in 2023 and sent its first frozen durian shipments there in 2025.
But the competitive field is getting crowded.
Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia already have access to China's fresh and frozen markets. Cambodia gained access in 2025, while Laos followed in November 2025. Indonesia has frozen-market access and is pursuing fresh access, while Myanmar has started negotiations.
Belviz assessed that market access is now only a baseline requirement — not a defensible advantage.
That changes the stakes for Davao.
The Philippine industry is no longer competing simply to get its fruit through China's door.
It is competing with countries already inside.
Exports are recovering
The pressure is visible in the numbers.
Belviz's data show Philippine durian exports peaking at 20,237.83 metric tons in 2024, before falling to 4,456 metric tons in 2025.
From January to September 2026, exports had recovered to 9,483.37 metric tons, consisting of 6,345.81 metric tons of fresh durian and 3,137.56 metric tons of frozen durian. That nine-month volume has already surpassed the entire 2025 total, although it remains below the 2024 peak.
For the industry, the rebound is encouraging.
But it comes as competing suppliers increase their presence in China.
Belviz said the Philippines is fighting not merely for market access but for “consistent grade, timing, logistics, and unit value.”
Those four factors reach all the way back to the farm.
Competition at the farmgate
Retchie Tayco, manager of Maylong Enterprises Corp., which exports Davao durian to China Resources Holdings Co. Ltd., is already seeing the effect of greater supply from competing countries.
He said his company's buying price this season fell sharply compared with last year.
“Ang buying gud namo niabot lang mi og P60, samtang last year niabot mi og P140, P120 (Our buying price reached only 60 pesos, while last year it reached P140, even P120),” Tayco said in a WeChat interview Thursday, September 24, 2026.
Tayco said supply from other countries has affected the market.
“Naay impact. Kanang volume sa ubang nasod (The volume from other countries has an impact),” he said.
What looks like a statistic about Thailand or Vietnam on a global trade chart can therefore become a much more immediate issue in Davao.
It can determine how much a farmer receives for a kilo of fruit.
The advantage Davao cannot waste
Davao's production base gives the Philippines something valuable: scale, experience and a deep pool of growers.
But Belviz's figures show that scale alone has not been enough to secure a major share of international trade.
The industry now has to improve the things that happen after the fruit grows — grading, maturity, postharvest handling, traceability, cold chain, logistics, processing and branding.
Those improvements matter because the value of a durian can change dramatically between the farm and the final consumer.
A fruit that misses a quality requirement may no longer qualify for the premium fresh market. A shipment that arrives late may lose shelf life. A farmer who receives too little at the farmgate may decide that another crop offers a better return.
The global competition therefore reaches much farther than the export terminal.
It reaches into every Davao orchard.
And that is why Belviz's question — Can we compete consistently? — matters more than simply asking whether the Philippines can export.
Davao already has the production advantage. The country already has access to China.
The market is already there.
The test now is whether the Philippines can turn Davao's mountains of durian into a durable place in the global trade — before its rivals grow too far ahead. MLSA