Dan Siekman

Shine Muscat is a crispy, fragrant seedless green grape variety developed in Japan in the late 1980s and then commercialized there in the early 2000s. In the past three years it has made a sudden emergence onto the Chinese market and is now being cultivated around China and can be frequently spotted on sale at a range of retailers, from streetside vendors to high-end supermarkets.

Innovation will take center stage at Produce Marketing Association’s (PMA) refreshed 2018 Fresh Summit Convention and Expo when it convenes Oct. 18-20 in Orlando, Florida, USA. Attendees will learn about industry-altering trends from big voices during the revamped convention – including Wired magazine Editor in Chief Greg Williams – while the expo is now a record setter, displaying new products and ideas along every aisle and row.

“Over the past two decades, imports of fresh fruit by key Asian markets from both within Asia and outside Asia have more than doubled, increasing 140%,” from 4.9 million tons to 11.8 million tons said Asiafruit Magazine Editor John Hey. In Indonesia alone, imports have gone up 10 times from 60,000 to 670,000 tons over that period, according to Hey.

The whole (in-husk) frozen whole fruits can be directly eaten by consumers as a substitute in the off season when fresh durian is not available from Thailand—the only country currently permitted to export fresh durian to China. Before export of frozen whole durians can begin, Malaysian authorities must submit to China a list of exporting durian plantations, processing facilities and other information.