Durian Prices Continue to Tumble to Its Lowest & Might Last for 2 More Weeks

If your middle name is Durian, and you breathe and sleep durian, then you’re either a happy fellow or a grumpy Wolverine now.

Happy because prices have dropped (now to its lowest so far) recently. Or grumpy because you feel devalued.

I’m pretty sure you’re now aware that durian prices low af now, compared to last year when a sudden interest in the king of fruits in China jacked the prices up exponentially. Today, it got to a stage whereby some Singapore sellers apparently gave out durians to clear stock – not something that you’ll expect to see one year ago.

And also, it got to a stage whereby McDonald’s even sold durian McFlurry, though I’m 88.8% sure it has nothing to do with durian prices.

So, What’s New?

Two days ago, the RM1 durian sale in Malaysia got picked up by media from both Singapore and Malaysia, and for a good reason: it’s getting even cheaper, possibly the cheapest so far.

According to the stall, the usual price is between RM3 to RM8, so the price of RM1 definitely justify sliding into headlines.

Why the Urgency to Sell Off Durians?

By now, we all know the reason for the oversupply: it’s due to the good weather over in Malaysia. It just, for some reason, get good-er and good-er.

A durian can’t last long – according to people in this forum, it is best to keep it for 2 to 5 days, and any period after 5 days isn’t advisable. It doesn’t help that Singapore and Malaysia are forever in Summer Mode, so if you keep it even longer than 5 days, you can expect your yellow goodness to turn into white badness.

Of course it can usually be stored longer if it’s kept in the fridge, but come on: putting durians in a fridge or freezer? It’s like putting influencers in hawker centre and expecting them to post an image of a plate of cai png there.

Given the short lifespan, it’s no surprise that sellers would rather offload them at a low price than to squeeze them into juices for a durian bath.

Still Not the Best Durian Year…Yet

While it seems like 2018 might go down in history as the durian-iest year, it hasn’t – at least, not yet, and not in Singapore.

In the first six months of 2018, the amount of durians being imported into Singapore is at 8,900 tonnes (that’s about 6 million durians). Double that and it’ll be 17,800 tonnes: which is the same amount as 2016. And in 2013, the entire year saw 22,900 tonnes of durians crossing the Causeway into our shore.

But of course, you’ll have to understand that the bulk of them came in after June 2018 – so it might still be the durian-est year ever.

That is, if this next prediction is correct

Two More Weeks of Durian-ised Singapore

All good things come to an end, so when would this durian-ised Singapore end?

Predicting that is as difficult as knowing what 4D number is coming out later, but a durian stall owner, Alvin Teoh from Durian36, has told the media that this would last for two more weeks.

After that, the smell of durian most likely wouldn’t be everywhere.

So the takeaway here is this: NOW is the best time to satisfy your durian thirst.