CHINA will start inspecting Malaysian durian farms and facilities later this month, Deputy Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Sim Tze Tzin said.

The General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC) will undertake the inspection of the first batch from April 21 to 27, he said.

Malaysia, which is famous for its durians like the musang king variety, has been working on exporting whole frozen fruits to China where there is a huge demand for the king of fruits.

Previously, Malaysia only exported durians in pulp and paste forms to China.

Both countries signed a protocol to enable the export of the whole fruit last August.

“With a population of 1.4 billion in China, exporting durians will increase our agro food export value.

“Once we pass all the requirements fixed by the GACC, we will be able to start exporting,” Sim told the Dewan Rakyat during question time this morning.

He was answering Lim Lip Eng (Kepong-PH), who wanted to know the latest status regarding whole durian exports to China and the requirements involved.

Exporters must register with the Agriculture Department, obtain good management practice (GMP) certification from the ministry, observe good agriculture practices and integrated pest management in their farms, fix nets to prevent durians from dropping onto the ground during harvesting, and meet the freezing conditions for the fruits.

He said 67 durian farms have registered with and applied to the ministry to export whole durians to China.

“Meanwhile, 18 processing plants have also applied but only five have been granted GMP certificates by the ministry so far. These will be inspected by GACC.” – April 3, 2019.