PAKSE, Laos — Chinese businessman Tao Jian spends a day walking the muddy roads of the Bolaven Plateau in southern Laos, inspecting his durian empire of 50,000 trees. The area is nicknamed the country's coffee capital, but soon it will also be known for China's insatiable appetite for the smelly, spiky “king of fruit.”
Tao's company Jinguo – literally “golden fruits” in Chinese – received its first crop this year. “I believe Laos will soon become the world's fourth largest durian producer after Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia,” the 54-year-old told Nikkei Asia.