Durian gets influencer backing as Thailand faces glut

BANGKOK - Thailand is turning to livestreamers to clear a looming durian glut, slashing prices as weaker Chinese demand threatens its biggest export market.

Top online seller Pimradaporn Benjawattanapat, or Pimrypie, led a high-energy livestream on the night of April 28, pitching to her combined 31 million TikTok and Facebook followers.

Known for selling everything from her own-brand fish sauce to luxury perfumes, Pimrypie priced premium Monthong at as low as 100 baht (S$3.90) per fruit, well below typical market levels.

Some “jumbo” pieces went for 480 baht, compared with 700-800 baht for similar-sized durians under normal conditions.

“I urge Thai people to help preserve the only remaining heart of the nation, a fruit that still generates income: Durian,” she said at the beginning of the four-hour livestream, which garnered 700,000 viewers across the platforms at a peak.

“Durian is our pride. Let’s not let that pride perish in the orchards.”

Almost eight million people viewed Pimrypie’s livestream on Facebook alone, generating nearly two million real-time order comments.

She was selling at a loss after buying up produce from farms in Chanthaburi, the world’s durian capital known for the creamy Monthong variety, she said during the livestream.

Pimrypie did not immediately disclose the volume of sales across all platforms.

Her livestream is part of a stepped-up Thai government push to use live commerce to head off a build-up in supply at home.

Thailand has about 850,000 video-commerce sellers driving 1.3 billion transactions, with growth outpacing the rest of South-east Asia, according to a 2025 report by Google, Temasek Holdings and Bain & Company.

The strategy is now being extended overseas. Commerce Minister Suphajee Suthumpun joined a three-hour session this week with a Chinese livestream host that drew 15 million baht in durian orders from mainland consumers.

Thailand, the world’s largest exporter of durian, is set for output to jump 33 per cent this season to about 2.1 million tonnes, with harvest peaking in May.

While roughly 30 per cent is consumed domestically, most is shipped abroad, leaving growers exposed when overseas demand falters.

The spiky fruit – often described as smelling like gym socks – is one of Thailand’s most valuable agricultural exports.

The country shipped more than 979,000 tonnes worth US$4.37 billion (S$5.58 billion) in 2025, accounting for the bulk of the global trade of the fruit.

That exposure is growing as China grapples with a weaker consumer recovery and tighter checks on imported produce.

Rising competition from regional suppliers like Vietnam and Malaysia has also eroded Thailand’s share of the mainland market. BLOOMBERG