New rail routes slash durian prices in China as cold-chain logistics surge

For generations, the durian sat at the edge of ordinary life in China — desired but expensive, a fruit whose journey from Southeast Asian orchards to Chinese tables was long, costly, and precarious. This summer, two new cold-chain rail corridors have compressed that journey to days, and in doing so have halved the price of a fruit consumed by no country more than China. What looks like a grocery story is, in the longer view, a quiet reordering of regional trade — a reminder that infrastructure is never merely logistical; it is also economic destiny.