China's love story with durians has culminated in the country's first-ever durian crop, grown on the island of Hainan.
However, even though the fruits are commanding sky-high prices in China, with one man spending about S$72,300 on a durian at an auction in Sanya, Hainan, the jury is still out on whether these durians actually taste good.
And of course, whether they can contend with durians from Southeast Asian suppliers in Thailand and Malaysia.
Why so expensive?
The inflated prices of the China-grown durians are largely due to diminished yields on Hainan, coupled with high demand for the fruit in China.
According to China Daily, the city began planting durian four years ago, but growers had to invest in substantial research and development.
One industry expert stated that growing durians in Hainan requires more manual interventions and greater attention to their growth rate, than if it were done in Southeast Asia.
Nevertheless, they can still be grown there -- as Hainan Island boasts a suitable, almost tropical climate with mild winters.
However, South China Morning Post reported in June that projected yields for the durians fell "sharply", citing an expert who estimated that Hainan will only be able to produce about 50 tonnes of durians this year.
This is only 0.005 per cent of the one million tonnes of the fruit that the Chinese are expected to consume in 2023.
China loves durians
China's voracious appetite for durians is showing no signs of slowing.
According to reports from Chinese state media Xinhua News Agency, durian topped the list of fruits China imported in 2022, with the country bringing in US$4.03 billion (S$5.36 billion) of the thorny fruit, nearly double that of the 2014 figure.
In the first quarter of 2023 alone, China imported 91,000 tonnes of durians, the highest Q1 figure in the past five years.
Hainan durians might be "fresher"
Additionally, there was some talk that Hainan's durians would be superior to imported varieties.
People's Daily Online reported in June that homegrown durians are collected when they are fully matured, as compared to imported ones which are harvested when they are about 70 to 80 percent mature.
They cited a Hainan-based agricultural researcher who felt they would have the advantage in terms of "the level of maturity and freshness".
The result? Hainan durians are now fetching astronomical prices, being priced at about 120 yuan (S$22.50) per kg.
In comparison, durians in Singapore average between S$12 to S$22 per kg for the more expensive varieties, based on a local durian retailer's estimates.
Not cheap indeed.
Worth the hype?
South China Morning Post recently conducted a review on a batch of durians they managed to acquire from the Hainan crop.
However, the durian sample turned out to be sorely underwhelming in terms of three main characteristics -- smell, texture, and flavour.
The general consensus was that the fruits were dry, hard and tasted too mild, a shadow of the typically pungent, creamy durians that the fruits' lovers prize.
"It felt like Durian 0.5 -- a prototype of a proper durian that needed more development time to get the smell, texture and flavour right," the report wrote.
It did acknowledge that the sample might not have been ripe enough, and might not be representative of the whole batch of the China-grown durians.
But there's room for improvement, it seems.
More about China's love for durians:
Top image from Hans Kaiser on Facebook.