Thai Chamber of Commerce to set up "Durian Institute"

The so-called Durian Institute will be set up by the Thai Chamber of Commerce to see to it that the "King of Fruit" will still live up to quality standards, said a leading executive of the chamber on Wednesday.

The Durian Institute project is primarily designed to provide business consultations as well as quality control guidelines for all durian dealers, especially those in the eastern provinces of Chantaburi and Rayong -- the country's largest durian producing area, according to Pratchaya Samalabha, head of the Thai Chamber of Commerce's Eastern Economic Development Committee.

He said the qualities of the Thai durian might possibly drop in the face of a continual, sizeable increase in purchase orders from China, the world's largest customer of the Thai durian.

Thailand has exported about 300,000 tons of durian to China, securing up to 350 million U.S. dollars in a year, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Fresh durian, considered a favorite fruit among Chinese high-end customers, has been substantially bought up by Chinese traders who did not only visit durian plantations in Chantaburi and Rayong earlier this year but placed advance orders for next harvest season.

"Though the huge purchase orders for our durian might possibly prompt its quality to decline more or less, we are bound to keep up the high-end quality," he said. Endit