Durian Sellers - recommendations and to avoid

[Hamburger]

Shoopee deliveries from stall in Mei Ling. 

No more online durian for me. 

[Ender]

5 hours ago, Heartlander said:

15,000 durian trees chopped down over 9 days! That would be 1,666 trees per day. Really so efficient? Be prepared to pay more for durians.

 

I wonder are those good pahang durians that we have here came from thes illegal MSW Farm? What a pity for those more than 20 years old trees.

[Heartlander]

1 hour ago, Ender said:

I wonder are those good pahang durians that we have here came from thes illegal MSW Farm? What a pity for those more than 20 years old trees.

I would think no need to worry about the supply of durians from Pahang for the time being.

From past articles online, Raub has over 900 farmers now and 11,000 acres, of which a good part will be affected by the legalisation scheme.
To the government, the farmers had encroached upon some 7,000 acres of land that is not theirs but rather owned by the state, and to which they have a legal right to take back for government use.
On June 24, the Pahang government awarded RPDR-PKPP the lease and rights to use 5,357 acres of land in Raub for 30 plus 30 years.
To put into perspective, The farmers’ group went public with a statement on Aug 20 detailing the alleged contract in which they claimed they were required to pay a levy of RM6,000 per acre ― which they said contains about 30 mature durian trees.

The current operation involved 250 acres of land with 15,000 durian trees. So there are still 11,000-250 or 10,750 acres of durians for now. This act is merely to pressure the rest of the illegal plantation dwellers to co-operate, which has about 5357-250 or 5107 acres of durian trees.

So what happens in the next few months or years would be interesting.
 

[Heartlander]

The plantation where my wife got her durians heard has not been affected since it is the legal type, we were told. Should be true as we continue to order healthy quantity for her groupbuy business. She has a few other sources which she got from carparks but never ask about this since very happy with quality from current supplier.

[Voodooman]

1 hour ago, Heartlander said:

The plantation where my wife got her durians heard has not been affected since it is the legal type, we were told. Should be true as we continue to order healthy quantity for her groupbuy business. She has a few other sources which she got from carparks but never ask about this since very happy with quality from current supplier.

How is the price you are getting from your regular vendor? 

I recently joined a group buy, cheaper msw but quality not as good as Owen's 99 but at $17/kg for Pahang cat A, can't really complain. This year's quality is generally pretty good, so don't mind trying out other suppliers, assuming you are happy to share. 

[Heartlander]

50 minutes ago, Voodooman said:

How is the price you are getting from your regular vendor? 

I recently joined a group buy, cheaper msw but quality not as good as Owen's 99 but at $17/kg for Pahang cat A, can't really complain. This year's quality is generally pretty good, so don't mind trying out other suppliers, assuming you are happy to share. 

I would say you have been paying fair price at $17/kg for Pahang grade A. My wife focus more on grade B as we find negligible difference between these 2 grades eating many kilos over the years. Granted grade A is bigger and would yield bigger pods, thus look nicer, but somehow my experience has been hit and miss and can swing quickly nearer end of season or when weather turn bad, whereas grade B tends to be more consistent. To me big seed small seed doesn't really matter, more important is taste and quality. If you mix durians from both grades together, chances is that you cannot tell the difference so easily. And sometimes we buy both grades, and end up feeling should have gotten grade B to save the change haha. But actually grade A and B only few dollars per kg difference, sometimes as low as $3, so is more of marketing ploy to me. 

Sorry I am not ready to share the groupbuy yet - not wanting to be accused of having ulterior motive joining this forum haha. Even among my friends and colleagues I also never share actively or much as want to keep the relationships simple. I am sure you know what I mean as you are a groupbuy member yourself. Not an easy business to support as need to cater to all kinds of buyers.

[Tohto]

10 hours ago, Heartlander said:

15,000 durian trees chopped down over 9 days! That would be 1,666 trees per day. Really so efficient? Be prepared to pay more for durians.

 

At boleh, make so much money from durian.

Ah gong ask for more coffee money, refused. This will be the outcome.

[Ct3833]

18 minutes ago, Tohto said:

At boleh, make so much money from durian.

Ah gong ask for more coffee money, refused. This will be the outcome.

Next year durian price will go up again because all of them now have to pay for land fees.

[Voodooman]

27 minutes ago, Heartlander said:

I would say you have been paying fair price at $17/kg for Pahang grade A. My wife focus more on grade B as we find negligible difference between these 2 grades eating many kilos over the years. Granted grade A is bigger and would yield bigger pods, thus look nicer, but somehow my experience has been hit and miss and can swing quickly nearer end of season or when weather turn bad, whereas grade B tends to be more consistent. To me big seed small seed doesn't really matter, more important is taste and quality. If you mix durians from both grades together, chances is that you cannot tell the difference so easily. And sometimes we buy both grades, and end up feeling should have gotten grade B to save the change haha. But actually grade A and B only few dollars per kg difference, sometimes as low as $3, so is more of marketing ploy to me. 

Sorry I am not ready to share the groupbuy yet - not wanting to be accused of having ulterior motive joining this forum haha. Even among my friends and colleagues I also never share actively or much as want to keep the relationships simple. I am sure you know what I mean as you are a groupbuy member yourself. Not an easy business to support as need to cater to all kinds of buyers.

Yes, I have bought cat B as well, at $13-14/kg. Yield is not as good but already reflected in the price i guess. 

No worries. Understand your reluctant to share, I would too (only downside risk).  

I am actually looking for a good vendor with good quality durians. Among friends and families, we have enough to buy a basket (50-60kg) each time.  Not opened for public lah, that is too much work and you will get blamed if quality is not good. 

[Evillusion]

8@Tohto This issue has been brewing since 2017 when it was 1st aired on TV3 about illegal durian Orchard enchroaching into Reserved Forest in Raub but it had always been areas near Tras and Bilut which the farmers lost but pending on the Court of Appeal. The current issue is at Bukit Batu Talam in the north of Raub while Tras is in the south which is actually a big distance. 

The farmers in Bukit Batu Talam is said to have encroached and destroyed 101 hectares of Permanent Reserved Forest land owned by the government which were located behind their legal orchards but surrounded by thick greeneries. For years this farmers had profitted without bring disturbed due to the remote location. From the videos i saw, the Court of Appeals ruling was only for the Orchards in Tras, Bilut and the surrounding areas but Bukit Batu Talam was not included thus the operation to the fell the trees were made and reforestation by the government and ngos are under way.

Mao Shang wang or Raja Kunyit is going international thus to ensure quality and centralised control, Royal Pahang Durians was setted up consisting of the Pahang Royalty (Princess of Pahang as Chairperson) and a few others. There have been many reports of unscrupulous durian sellers selling subpar durian as the real deal and this may affect the branding. Whether they are up to durian grabbing or protecting the durian is up to interpretation. 

The who is who in the RPD conglomerate.

 

 

[kobayashiGT]

14 hours ago, Hamburger said:

Shoopee deliveries from stall in Mei Ling. 

No more online durian for me. 

That white-like-caucasian durain is what breed ah? Nice? hahaha

[Hamburger]

@kobayashiGT 

It's XO and not that bitter. Seeds also not chiu jee. Failed. 

[Mkl22]

13 hours ago, Heartlander said:

I would think no need to worry about the supply of durians from Pahang for the time being.

From past articles online, Raub has over 900 farmers now and 11,000 acres, of which a good part will be affected by the legalisation scheme.
To the government, the farmers had encroached upon some 7,000 acres of land that is not theirs but rather owned by the state, and to which they have a legal right to take back for government use.
On June 24, the Pahang government awarded RPDR-PKPP the lease and rights to use 5,357 acres of land in Raub for 30 plus 30 years.
To put into perspective, The farmers’ group went public with a statement on Aug 20 detailing the alleged contract in which they claimed they were required to pay a levy of RM6,000 per acre ― which they said contains about 30 mature durian trees.

The current operation involved 250 acres of land with 15,000 durian trees. So there are still 11,000-250 or 10,750 acres of durians for now. This act is merely to pressure the rest of the illegal plantation dwellers to co-operate, which has about 5357-250 or 5107 acres of durian trees.

So what happens in the next few months or years would be interesting.
 

in the end it all about the money. the officials want their cut... 😁. i would hazard a guess that the farmers didn;t want to pay someone off. so now the matter has blown up.

[inlinesix]

7 minutes ago, Mkl22 said:

in the end it all about the money. the officials want their cut... 😁. i would hazard a guess that the farmers didn;t want to pay someone off. so now the matter has blown up.

Under Tun Razak Initiative in the 60s, farmers are encouraged to plant 1st before apply for land title.

These farmers has been applying for land title since then.

No action was taken against farmer until now.  Under Law Code, this is illegal encroachment.

I would haphazardly say that someone red eye about the profit from Musang King.

Market price for Raub Durian Farm with trees older than 10 years old is about RM1m/acre

[Heartlander]

4 minutes ago, Mkl22 said:

in the end it all about the money. the officials want their cut... 😁. i would hazard a guess that the farmers didn;t want to pay someone off. so now the matter has blown up.

But this is really a so called catch 22 situation. The 'illegal'' farmers are definitely earning big bucks with their crops every year, this one no need to dispute. The government cannot collect alot of tax from them as it does not want to recognise that the farmers own the land else they will use that to demand for land titles, so now using hard tactic after soft tactics failed. The government is definitely greedy and want to have a cut of the cake now that it is a hot commodity worldwide, and it thinks it deserve to have a bigger cut. Really depend on your perspective whether to pity the illegal farmers or not.

[Mkl22]

8 minutes ago, Heartlander said:

But this is really a so called catch 22 situation. The 'illegal'' farmers are definitely earning big bucks with their crops every year, this one no need to dispute. The government cannot collect alot of tax from them as it does not want to recognise that the farmers own the land else they will use that to demand for land titles, so now using hard tactic after soft tactics failed. The government is definitely greedy and want to have a cut of the cake now that it is a hot commodity worldwide, and it thinks it deserve to have a bigger cut. Really depend on your perspective whether to pity the illegal farmers or not.

the government has taken their cut, but the officials also need to "feed their tummy".....😁

[Heartlander]

9 minutes ago, inlinesix said:

Under Tun Razak Initiative in the 60s, farmers are encouraged to plant 1st before apply for land title.

These farmers has been applying for land title since then.

No action was taken against farmer until now.  Under Law Code, this is illegal encroachment.

I would haphazardly say that someone red eye about the profit from Musang King.

Market price for Raub Durian Farm with trees older than 10 years old is about RM1m/acre

I am not sure when did the farmers started applying for the land titles, and was it most of them or only a few handful. If it started back in the 70s and 80s, think MSW not exist yet and the durian trade still not so lucrative right? So far have yet to hear anything from the Pahang government side to have a fuller picture, so difficult to understand what really is going on.

[Evillusion]

@Mkl22 Recently an army retiree was caught trespassing into one of Pahang's Reserve Forest and had collected some plants, he was jailed 2 yrs and fined RM 50 000. If the sentence are consistent, the fine for the 'illegal' durians growers would run into millions....only for the illegally farmed land, those legal ones would be running as normal. As long as they have grant or deeds to the land they will be allowed to operate. 

Raub was under MCA since 1978, DAP won in 2008 since till now. Who have interest in these fiasco is up for debate in Malaysia and since a DAP member of parliament from another state cross the state border and caused tension between the authority and the farmers, the debate has gone up a notch on who have the real interest on the durian illegal operations.

Yes, MSW was introduced there in the 80s and the farmers had expanded their operations into the Reserved Forest only then judging from what was said about the ages of the trees that were cut down. In one video there was even new housing being built a short distance away, most prob the development of the housing led to the discovery of the illegal durian farm.

Edited July 13, 2021 by Evillusion