PETALING JAYA: The king of fruits continues to be in demand in the Netherlands following the Taste of Malaysia (TOM) 2021 programme.

The event, held from Nov 10 to 23, was organised by the Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry (MAFI) through its office in The Hague, with the cooperation of Dutch supermarket chain Amazing Oriental, the Malaysian embassy in The Hague, Matrade, and Tourism Malaysia, Sinar Harian reported.

According to the Malay daily, aside from promoting durian as well as durian-made products, the programme aims to increase consumer awareness about Malaysian food products in the country.

The daily noted that based on a report by Amazing Oriental, the programme showed that the sales of Malaysian food products were encouraging – with sales increasing 228% without any promotional effort.

“Frozen Musang King durian pulp is in such demand that it received about 86 cartons (during TOM) compared to 12 cartons (this year), while frozen durian saw sales go up threefold,” the report stated.

The report also noted that durian-based products are also in high demand, with an increase in demand of up to 50% without promotion.

MAFI chief secretary Datuk Haslina Abdul Hamid was reported as saying that the potential to market agriculture products in Europe was huge, but food safety aspects needed to be prioritized.