Exports recover after a challenging year
2025 is considered a challenging period for Vietnam's durian industry as import markets, especially China, strengthen requirements on food safety and traceability. Tightening inspections forces many businesses, cooperatives and growing areas to adjust production processes, packaging, and quality control.
Although the total volume of fresh durian exports in 2025 reached about 1.1 million tons, lower than the level of over 1.3 million tons in 2024, this is also a period when the industry is forced to change direction. Instead of chasing hot growth, Vietnamese durian must adapt to the increasingly tight requirements of the import market.
Stepping into 2026, these adjustments began to be effective. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, Vietnam's durian exports reached about 221.7 million USD, an increase of 230% compared to the same period in 2025. Total export volume reached over 80,000 tons, of which fresh durian accounted for about 68,500 tons, and frozen durian reached nearly 11,600 tons.
It is noteworthy that many markets recorded very high growth, with some increasing by three digits compared to the same period. Not only maintaining export momentum to traditional markets, Vietnamese businesses are also expanding their presence in many other potential markets thanks to their quality advantages and ability to meet technical standards.
Frozen durian becomes a new direction
One of the biggest bright spots of the durian industry today is the breakthrough of the frozen product group. If in 2024, frozen durian exports only reached more than 4,600 tons, in 2025 it increased to more than 91,000 tons, an increase of nearly 20 times.
This trend continues to be maintained in the first months of 2026. In the first quarter of 2026, the average export price of frozen durian reached about 4, 302 USD/ton, an increase of more than 20% compared to the same period last year and about 18-22% higher than fresh durian.
Unlike fresh durian, which depends heavily on the season, storage time and logistics pressure, frozen durian can go further, last longer and reach more demanding markets. This is an important advantage to help businesses reduce risks during the peak harvest season, while expanding the space for deep processing.
This is also considered an important step to help Vietnamese durian step out of the traditional export model and go deeper into the global processing and distribution chain.
If in the past, many businesses mainly focused on expanding production, now, "quality" has become the central keyword of the entire durian industry.
In many localities, farmers have begun to change farming habits, paying more attention to production diaries, using fertilizers reasonably, controlling chemical residues and strictly complying with technical procedures for export.
Along with that, the system of planting area codes and packaging facility codes is increasingly being perfected. This is not only a technical requirement of the importing country but also becomes a "passport" to help Vietnamese agricultural products affirm transparency and traceability in the international market.
Businesses are also accelerating investment in cold storages, freezing lines, quality management systems and digital transformation of supply chains. Instead of spontaneous purchases as before, many businesses have proactively linked raw material areas, controlled production from gardens to factories to better meet the increasingly strict requirements of the market.
According to experts, this is the pivotal stage for Vietnam's durian industry to move from "hot growth" to "quality growth".
From the positive signals at the beginning of 2026, it can be seen that Vietnamese durian is facing a great opportunity to enhance its brand. More importantly, the success of the first months of 2026 shows that Vietnam's durian industry is gradually shifting from a growth mindset based on output to a development model based on quality, added value and sustainability, an important foundation for building a reputable Vietnamese agricultural brand in the global market.
