Durian that dethroned Musang King becomes thief magnet even as prices crash

A Penang durian trader has been robbed twice within days, once at knifepoint, losing baskets of prized Black Thorn even as a national glut drives Malaysian durian prices to their lowest in years.

Wenny Ooi, 27, said thieves hit her family's stall in Guar Kepah on the Penang mainland on June 25 and again on June 29, she told The Star on July 9. They were the first break-ins in the business's six years.

Two baskets of Black Thorn vanished in the first raid, though surveillance footage caught only one intruder leaving with a single basket.

"Four days later, at about 1 a.m., my stall was broken into again. This time, the thief was armed with a knife but left with only a basket of spoiled durians," Ooi told The Star.

Her family has since added more guard dogs.

Black Thorn ranks among Malaysia's priciest durians, prized enough to have dethroned the better-known Musang King at national competitions. Known in Penang Hokkien as Or Chi and registered by agriculture authorities as D200, it traces to a single mother tree still standing on the Penang mainland.

Durian farmer Tan Chee Keat, 35, said trespassers now enter his plantation in Sungai Ara, on Penang island, almost daily, arriving before dawn to gather freshly fallen fruit.

"They usually come in groups of two or three, carrying sacks, and each time they can make off with more than 10 kg of durians," he told The Star.

Tan has turned to drones to detect intruders but rarely catches them, he said, because they cover their faces, slip in from the rear and flee into the jungle.

Kie Kim Hwa, chairman of the Penang Fruit Farmers Association and a representative of about 250 growers statewide, said durian theft was far more common decades ago, when times were harder, and had faded as living standards rose.

Penang durians now sell for RM5 to RM50 ($1.23 to $12.30) per kg, he told The Star, about half their peak earlier this season.

Musang King, Malaysia's flagship variety, has plunged from around RM90 to RM100 per kg to as low as RM9 ($2.21), a fall of nearly 90%, Thailand's The Nation reported.

Simultaneous bumper harvests across Penang, Perak and Johor flooded the market\.

Malaysia's Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority attributed the glut to export-grade trees planted during a boom a decade ago now reaching full yield, and to cloned fruit that fails export standards being diverted to the domestic market rather than to any drop in demand, Bernama reported.

Overseas demand has grown, with fresh durian exports to China reaching 11,803 metric tons in the first five months of 2026, nearly four times the 3,029 shipped a year earlier, The Nation reported.

The steepest price falls have hit lower grades, with premium export-quality fruit holding firmer, The Star reported. Black Thorn was still selling for RM15 to RM29 ($3.69 to $7.13) per kg through the slump, according to The Online Citizen.

Many traders do not bother reporting thefts, Kie said, choosing instead to tighten security or wait for repeat offenders to be caught.

He urged hikers and orchard visitors against helping themselves. "It is shameful to steal. These fruits are the farmers' livelihood," he told The Star.