The durian market in the Western and Central Highlands provinces is undergoing days of intense fluctuations as it enters the peak of the rainy season and the bumper harvest. In contrast to the bustling atmosphere at the beginning of the crop season, farmgate purchasing prices are currently plunging deeply.

Gloomy market, Ri6 durian prices drop deeply

Over the past few days, farmgate durian prices have been continuously pushed low. Particularly for the Ri6 durian line, the price is hitting rock bottom. Grade A Ri6 is only around 37,000 VND/kg, while grade B has dropped sharply to 22,000 VND/kg. Slightly flawed, culled, or freckled Ri6 lines are even purchased at only 20,000 – 35,000 VND/kg. Meanwhile, this type of durian is usually at 100,000 VND, sometimes 150,000 VND/kg. Even the Thai durian variety (Monthong), which inherently holds its price better, has now dropped deeply, fluctuating between 63,000 - 68,000 VND/kg depending on the area.

“Although durians are still exported well, because it is entering the harvest and rainy seasons, durian prices are quite low,” confided Mr. Hoang Tien, a long-time durian trader in the West.

Mr. Tien argued that alongside the pressure of sharply rising supply upon entering the bumper harvest season combined with rainy weather affecting the pulp quality, changing consumer preferences are also a cause making Ri6 durian prices drop heavily.

“The Ri6 line is currently no longer favored by the export market as before; many freckles ruin the aesthetics, while traders only concentrate on gathering Thai (Monthong) goods for export. When the outlet is tightened while the volume cut at orchards is too massive, it is unavoidable for Ri6 prices to collapse down to the floor,” Mr. Tien shared.

The record price disparity between Ri6 and Thai durians (Monthong) this year is the focal point of the entire market's attention. If in previous years, the disparity between these two varieties only fluctuated around a few thousand to over ten thousand VND/kg, this year the gap has stretched extremely wide (at certain points, the Monthong price was nearly double that of Ri6).

A director of a durian exporting company in Can Tho codes argued that because Monthong durians hold the advantage: Chinese consumers increasingly favor Thai durians (Monthong) thanks to the advantages of large fruits, thick pulp, a mild sweet flavor, low loss rates after freezing, and especially being highly suitable as raw materials for the food industry (pastries, ice cream, durian hotpot). Meanwhile, Ri6 durians encounter difficulties when exported fresh: Ri6 carries a rich, creamy sweet flavor that perfectly suits Vietnamese tastes, but the pulp has a darker yellow color and more fibers. When transported over long distances such as to China, if temperature is not controlled well, Ri6 easily becomes clumpy or mushy, causing purchasing depots over there to heavily squeeze prices or reduce fresh purchasing volumes.

Sharing the same perspective, Mr. Huynh Tan Loc—Director of Ngu Hiep Durian Cooperative (Dong Thap) supplemented that pressure also comes from the fact that growing zones in the West, East, and Central Highlands are entering the crop season simultaneously. The severe mismatch between supply and demand on the export market is precisely the direct cause dragging durian prices down.

Standardizing cultivation processes, firmly maintaining the market

Prices are precarious, while requirements from international partners become increasingly strict day by day, particularly regulations on controlling growing zone codes and banned substance residues. The emergence of warning information regarding Cadmium or Auramine O content over the past time has set out a vital requirement for standardizing cultivation processes.

To save themselves before waiting for the market to recover, many cooperatives have embarked on specific actions. At Ngu Hiep Durian Cooperative, orchard owners are urgently altering production habits, proactively reducing the content of Cadmium-containing fertilizers accumulating in the soil by switching to utilizing easily absorbable phosphorus types sprayed directly via leaves instead of undisciplined ground application.

"Now growing zone control is extremely strict; before purchasing durians, traders must take samples to test first at the orchards, and if they achieve standards completely without catching banned substance residues, they will then down money. Farmers must unite to standardize cultivation processes to widely open the path to selling durians," Mr. Loc stated.

Mr. Le Van Binh—a durian-growing farmer in Tan Phong commune (Dong Thap) stated that currently, the majority of durian-growing farmers in the locality have upgraded old, degraded orchards to achieve export standards to sell durians to traders.

“I am upgrading 6 cong of land currently growing durians (around 80 trees) to grow durians applying a closed, safe process,” Mr. Binh shared.

Clearly, the plunging wave of durian prices in 2026 is precisely the most expensive warning for spontaneous agricultural mindsets. Clean cultivation and standardizing processes from the root are no longer encouraging slogans but have become mandatory admission tickets for Vietnamese durians to overcome strict technical barriers and stand firm in foreign markets.

Source: Bao dien tu Dan Viet