POST handling and quality control remain the biggest challenge that durian exporters have been facing in exporting durian.
Since the pilot of durian shipment in 2023, exportation of this fruit to the leading global market particularly China, experienced logistical to technical problems in terms of international distribution as disclosed by Emmanuel Belviz, president of the Davao City Durian Industry Council (DCDIC) during the Business Matters media forum, Friday morning, October 18, 2024.
“Meron kase tayong protocols for export durian like dapat pag once i-harvest sya, hindi dapat lumapag sa lupa, dapat yung mga thorns hindi dapat ma-damage. Usually pag ganyan ang mangyayari, pagdating sa market magkakaron sya ng bruising (We have protocols for exporting durian, such as the fact that once it is harvested, it should not be dropped on the ground and that the thorns should not be damaged. Usually if that happens, the durian will have bruises once exported to the market),” he said, further explaining that they are avoiding the shipment of over ripe and rotten durians in order to prevent bad feedback from the foreign buyers.
According to Belez, such a topic will be highlighted in the upcoming National Durian Summit this October 23 to 24 at the Grand Menseng Hotel, Davao City wherein around 250 to 300 participants from various sectors across the Philippines will be joining.
“We will have a special segment on that wherein we will train the farmers what are the majority illnesses and how to do the pre-harvest to post-harvest,” he added, noting that majority of the participants will be coming from Davao region and Soccsksargen since both areas have the active durian expansion.
The official also told Davao media that several international and local durian experts will be sharing their knowledge at the summit which will serve as an opportunity for farmers, durian experts, and investors to gain new knowledge in the overall durian production industry.
Currently, durians in Davao have been actively exported in 12 countries following the opening of Davao durian export to New Zealand and Taiwan this year alone.
The biggest exporter, he said, is China, followed by Singapore and Japan. Philippines’ export markets also include Thailand, Hongkong, Malaysia, UAE, Korea, USA, Japan, Australia, and United Kingdom (UK)”
At present, the durian production in Davao for 2023 in metric tons (MT) has reached 60, 331.33 MT compared to the 58.648.7 last 2022.
The province of Davao del Sur, particularly Davao City topped the list with 44404.5 MT share in the jurisdiction followed by Davao del Norte, Davao de Oro, Davao Occidental, and Davao Oriental.
The official concluded that presently there are more than 16 authorized durian exporters in the Philippines have yet to apply the global certification called “China Import Food Enterprises Registration” or CIPER in order to freely export durian frozen goods to China, a robust market and is Davao’s largest and biggest durian exporter.
CIPER is a legal certification process where only certified products could enter the exportation market.
“Marami na tayong exporters na nag apply pero waiting pa tayo sa approval (We have exporters that have already applied but are waiting for the approval),” he said. DEF