In the first half of the year, the import volume of fresh durian at Yunnan ports ranked first in the country (see chart)

The picture shows customs officers inspecting imported Thai fresh durian at the Mohan Railway Port. Photo by Hu Pan

At present, it is the hot selling season for Southeast Asia durian to be listed in a concentrated way. A large number of fresh Southeast Asia durian are loaded with the China Laos railway "Lancang Mekong Express" international cold chain freight train, and enter the country through Mohan railway port. Relying on the advantages of connectivity between the China Laos railway and the new land and sea channel in the west, and multimodal transport linkage, they directly reach Kunming, Chongqing, Chengdu and other large domestic durian trading markets, and are sold throughout the country.

Our company mainly imports fresh durians from Thailand. After the goods are loaded into cold chain containers in the Thai corridor, they can be delivered to Mohan within 24 hours at the earliest. The loss rate of fresh fruits has been significantly reduced, and sales have steadily increased. We have more confidence in expanding the domestic market and source procurement, "said Lin Heng, the person in charge of Shenzhen Pan Tai Fresh Supply Chain Co., Ltd.

Yunnan is an important gateway for China to open up to Southeast Asia. Because of its geographical advantages and close economic and trade exchanges with Thailand, Vietnam and other major durian producing countries, Yunnan has built a transportation system of "rail, road, water and air" linkage by relying on China Laos Railway, Kunming Bangkok Highway, Lancang Mekong International Channel, Kunming Changshui Airport and other transportation hubs. Yunnan has 13 designated supervision sites for imported fruits covering land ports, airports, and water ports along the Vietnam Laos Myanmar border. The increasingly complete port supporting facilities and customs clearance policy measures provide solid support for the large-scale and normalized import of fresh fruits in Southeast Asia. According to Kunming Customs statistics, in the first half of 2026, Yunnan imported 319000 tons of fresh durian with a value of 9.65 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 58.2% and 46.5%, respectively. The import volume and value ranked first in the country, accounting for nearly 30% of the total import volume and value of fresh durian in China.

In response to the short shelf life and high customs clearance requirements of tropical fruits such as fresh durian, Kunming Customs continues to deepen the construction of a smart customs, promote the establishment of quarantine and supervision business scenarios for imported fresh agricultural products, build preliminary screening and identification laboratories for harmful organisms and alien species at the port, equip with professional equipment such as stereomicroscopes and constant temperature incubators, and effectively shorten the testing time. At the same time, in the inspection process, promote the application of 5G intelligent individual inspection terminals, intelligently verify enterprise qualifications and cargo labels, assist in identifying common harmful organisms, and improve the efficiency of fresh food inspection.

"We guide enterprises to use facilitation measures such as' early declaration 'and' appointment inspection 'to establish a multi sector rapid coordination, inspection and detection response mechanism, and the overall customs clearance efficiency of ports has increased by more than 80%, and the scale of dynamic trade has continued to expand. This year, China Laos Railway also imported Cambodia Puzhai Durian for the first time, and Laos Durian has also been admitted to China. The source of import continues to expand, and the future domestic Durian consumer market will also be more diversified." Huang Zhonglei, head of the comprehensive business section of Mengla Customs, introduced. According to the statistics of Kunming Customs, 130000 tons of fresh durian were imported through the China Laos Railway in the first half of the year, an increase of 39.9% year on year. The China Laos Railway has become an important land channel for fresh fruit from Southeast Asia to China. (Zhou Wei/Text)