KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 9 (Sin Chew Daily) — Frozen Musang King durian and D101 durian are now available in Japan.

The Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) said Hernan Corporations Sdn Bhd exported frozen Musang King durian and D101 to Tokyo in January.

As one of the largest durian exporters, the company entered the Japanese market through online promotion with the help of Matrade end of last year.

"The first shipment arrived at Tokyo port in mid-January," said Matrade in a statement.

The company exports durians to more than 12 countries and territories, including Australia, China, Hong Kong, United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand and European Union.

Matrade has assisted many small- and medium-sized enterprises to penetrate the international markets. One of them was food and beverage trade fair Japan Foodex held in Tokyo.

Niqman Rafaee Mohd Sahar, Matrade trade commissioner in Tokyo, said Malaysian exporters are advised to seek business partners in Japan to speed up the process of registration, distribution, promotion and marketing of Malaysian products in Japan.

"Durian and its related products from Malaysia are considered new consumer products in the Japanese market.

"Demand for these products is growing fast, especially from Asian food and beverage outlets and specialty shops," he said.

Durians from Malaysia are sold in supermarkets, stores, online platforms as well as restaurants in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya.

Malaysian merchants are urged to explore business opportunities in Japan through e-commerce as the size of the Japanese e-commerce market is about US$150 billion.

Matrade said as the third largest economy in the world, Japan's food and beverage market is US$230 billion, and it holds huge potentials for halal products from Malaysia.

Japan is the fourth largest trading partner of Malaysia for six consecutive years with total trade valued at RM122.73 billion.