Vietnam competes with Thailand as the top exporter of the fruit to China – but tighter customs inspections are slowing exports, analysts say
The General Administration of Customs of China now requires enhanced pre-export safety checks and compliance testing before shipments leave the source country, with “qualified” test reports to be attached to durians, a customs official told the Post, requesting anonymity due to internal rules.
She said the administration had intensified testing for the organic compound alkaline yellow and the metal cadmium in Vietnamese durians, after discovering concentrations that “seriously endangered the health of domestic consumers” at the start of 2025.
“In order to effectively prevent food safety risks, the General Administration of Customs immediately took action.”
Under the stricter rules, Vietnamese durians are subject to “batch by batch” testing – with any unqualified fruits returned or destroyed. Exporters are in turn suspended from shipping the fruit to China, she said.
