On September 21, 2021, Daniel Yu, Vice Chairman of Malaysia International Durian Industry Development Association, and Edwyn Chiang, Secretary General, visited the Malaysia-China Business Council. Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysia-China Business Council, Samuel Lee, together with Datuk Seri Director Lau Kuan Kam (Chairman of the Agriculture and Plantation Industries Committee), cordially received the representatives of the Association.
The two parties discussed the cooperation in Malaysia's agriculture and digital agriculture, and jointly look forward to the resumption of exchanges and cooperation in the durian field in Malaysia as soon as possible in the post-epidemic era. Secretary-General Edwyn Chiang said that agriculture still occupies an important position in Malaysia. In recent years, the Malaysian government has publicly stated on many occasions that it hopes to seize opportunities in the global, especially the “Belt and Road’ initiative and China’s agricultural product market, to attract more capital and talents to the country’s agricultural sector. Especially durians (Musang King and Blackthorn Durian) have become Malaysia's international business card. Let the world understand the Durian Culture and the investment value of Durian. In Year 2019, China has imported more durians than cherries, and durians have become the most valuable fruit imported by China. More than 90% of the imported durians are from Thailand. In 2020, the import market value will reach 14.848 billion yuan, an increase of 44% year-on-year. The import volume is 575,000 tons, while the market value of Thailand's exports to China will reach 14.7 billion yuan. Malaysia has an annual output of about 300,000 tons, and exports to China about 10,000 tons, which only accounts for 1/60 of China's total annual durian imports (about 600,000 tons), and the import value is about 100 million US dollars! Among China’s 1.41 billion people, less than 1% have tasted durians. As the hometown of durians, Malaysia, which has the world’s top durian varieties, will certainly have a place in the huge Chinese market. We need to work together to create a joint venture. For A bright future for the development of China-Malaysia durian industry! Director Datuk Seri Lau Kuan Kam mentioned that the investment cooperation between Malaysia and China in the agricultural sector is still in its infancy and has broad prospects. Compared with manufacturing, construction and other fields, Malaysia-China agricultural investment cooperation projects are still relatively small, and the proportion of investment amount, revenue level, and investment scale are relatively low. The continuous expansion of the scale of agricultural trade between Malaysia and China and the continuous optimization of the trade structure have laid a foundation for the two countries to carry out agricultural investment cooperation. At present, the epidemic has accelerated the advent of the digital age. In recent years, the government agencies of the two countries have introduced a number of policies to support the integrated development of digital economy and smart agriculture.
The two sides exchanged in-depth views on strengthening cooperation in the fields of agricultural tourism, agricultural plantation, durian culture and infrastructure construction, and look forward to the close cooperation between the two parties in the future.
