RAUB, Oct 7 (Sin Chew Daily) — The China-Malaysia (Guangxi) online durian festival has hit RM42.81 million in sales on the first day.

A total of 48% of sales were transacted online while another 52% through distributors with the sale of 350,000 durians on the first day.

The online durian festival is promoting Musang King durian from Malaysia for the first time, highlighting an agricultural product from Asean.

The online durian festival held from October 5 to 8 was jointly organized by China-Asean SME Trade Promotion Platform (CASTPP), China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park (CMQIP) Administrative Committee and the Qinzhou Port Area of China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

A China-Malaysia duty-free shopping mall in Qinzhou, Guangxi, was the main venue for the online durian festival while the other two venues Kuala Lumpur and Raub, where most of the Musang King durians are grown, also hosted the live stream of online sale.

Wang Xiongchang, deputy head of Qinzhou Port Area of China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone Administrative Committee, joined the host in the China-Malaysia duty free shopping mall to promote Musang King durians which attracted 400,000 views where 300,000 Musang King durians were snapped up in 50 minutes and 48 seconds.

An auction of Musang King durians was held at the China-Malaysia duty-free shopping mall, starting with one yuan.

More than 20,000 shoppers joined the frenzied act of bidding for the durians at the launch of the festival.