Fancy healthier durians? Sabah spotlights lower-sugar, rare red varieties in tourism push - CNA

In recent years, the East Malaysian state has hosted durian bazaars, festivals and competitions to promote its local harvests. 

Dalit durians - a wild, brightly coloured species native to Borneo - at a competition in Sabah, Malaysia.

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Melissa Goh 22 Dec 2025 03:56PM (Updated: 23 Jan 2026 03:30PM) Bookmark Bookmark Share WhatsApp Telegram Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Set CNA as your preferred source on Google Add CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results. Read a summary of this article on FAST. Get bite-sized news via a newcards interface. Give it a try. Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST FAST KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is carving out a name for itself as a regional durian hub, drawing on its rich biodiversity and growing appetite for both cultivated and wild varieties of the so-called “king of fruits”. 

In recent years, the East Malaysian state has hosted durian bazaars, festivals and competitions to promote its local harvests. 

These events attract growers big and small – from commercial orchard owners to small-scale farmers, spotlighting the region’s distinctive species, many of which cannot be found outside Borneo.