00:00Durian stalls overflow with crowds amid the fruit's pungent aroma at hotspots across the Klang Valley,
00:09where Malaysia's prized musangking has plummeted to record low prices.
00:16A durian tsunami, according to industry players, has caused dropped over 60% in just one month
00:23due to oversupply and weakening export demand.
00:30There is a price of 9.90 cents per kilo.
00:34It's a great deal with the export.
00:40It's a great deal.
00:42It's a great deal.
00:44It's a lot of water.
00:47It's a durian.
00:48It's a long time.
00:50It's not a day like a durian.
00:54It's not a month like a durian.
00:56It's a long time.
00:58It's a season slow over.
01:00Durian trader Lim Fong Chiu pointed to weakening demand from China's export market
01:05as another key factor behind the price collapse.
01:08Currently, the biggest season, in 10 years, the biggest season in this country
01:15is the biggest quest.
01:17It's a blue model, so it's like they have a lot of oilseries.
01:21The problem is too much.
01:22Now, the price is too much.
01:24Yet, despite the dramatic price drop, traders report their businesses remain unaffected.
01:47The lower prices have actually strengthened consumer purchasing power,
01:52keeping demand steady and sales robust.
01:56Meanwhile, many in the industry are pivoting toward downstream products
02:00as a strategy to manage the glut and stabilise prices.
02:05DSR Taiko Berhad is one such company.
02:09Through its demasking brand, DSR offers an array of proprietary durian-based specialty items
02:15from durian pizza and musangking gelato to ice cream and coffee.
02:22In actual fact, it is an increase of supply and also it's not actually an increase of competition.
02:30What we say here is just affected by imitation products.
02:35We call it just a fake competition, competition from the imitation.
02:39Why? As you know, I also mentioned just now that musangking durian has been GI,
02:44geographical indication by government Malaysia.
02:47And yet, the players claim to be musangking through its product level, especially downstream products.
02:54Talking about here, and when we talk about downstream products, they use paste.
02:58And the paste is flavored or mixed kind of variety of durian, so end up we emphasize as like a sabotage.
03:06And for downstream products, which mainly dominated by secondary, as a example like Thai,
03:13or flavored rather than just through paste, which huge market volume.
03:19So we should change this mindset, good quality, priority for downstream so it can push up the value
03:27and more consistent rather than seasonally and also depend on the timing.
03:33So downstream market not a dumping ground instead of its value and also value creation platform.
03:42That meant for sustainability market.
03:44However, while consumers celebrate some of the lowest musangking prizes seen in years,
03:51industry players caution that sustained price pressure could threaten the viability of growers and traders.
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