Durian supply halved by rainy season, sellers lament poor quality

The spate of gloomy weather in the region has taken a hit on Singapore's durian supply.

Durian sellers have speculated that the year end harvest is expected to be only half of last year's, reported Shin Min Daily News on Monday (Dec 9). 

Huang Mingyi (transliteration), the owner of 211 House Of Durian in Toa Payoh told Shin Min that due to the bad weather, he received fewer durians from his supplier, which were also of poor quality. 

In order to ensure the quality of his goods, he said he would rather delay sales by a week.

Some sellers have also seen a delay in their year-end supply, also partly due to the inclement weather. 

"It's hard to predict [these things], sometimes it depends on the weather, last year we received the durians in mid-November, this year we only got them in early December," said Lin, an assistant at Wonderful Durian. 

As for when the peak season will be, Lin said it depends on production levels at the end of the month. 

Locals unaware of year-end durian season

Zhang Shiyong, the owner of Durian 36, said that many locals are unaware about year-end durian season. Most of his customers these days are tourists, he said. 

He added that he hopes to see more locals visit his shop when more stock arrives in the next two weeks. 

The more commonly-known peak durian season lasts from May to August, with sellers seeing sales of up to 100 baskets of durians a day, reported CNA in July. 

This year, Musang King still topped the list as consumers' favourite variety. 

"The Musang King is actually more flavourful. Everybody loves the bitterness and sweetness of the durian," said Charlie Phua, business development director at supplier Durian Supply told CNA then. 

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xingying.koh@asiaone.com