KUALA LUMPUR: Ekovest Bhd’s 30.44%-owned associate company PLS Plantations Bhd says its durian business returns can “easily overtake” its oil palm plantation earnings as PLS embarks on its upstream durian cultivation expansion.

PLS executive director Lee Hun Kheng said the company, which derives the bulk of its earnings from oil palm plantation, foresees its durian business becoming its main revenue driver for the next six to seven years.

The durian segment currently contributes some 26% of PLS’ total earnings, Lee told reporters at the group’s extraordinary general meeting yesterday.

The contribution is only from the downstream segment, which involves trading of processed durian products. The group’s biggest export market is China, which takes up 90% of the processed durian products it exports.

So far, the group has seen no significant impact on its exports following the Covid-19 outbreak, Lee said.

“We are on the better side ... as our durian-related products are all frozen,” said Lee, adding that the company could freeze these products and store them up to 24 months.

Moving forward, Lee said the company is looking to export to Australia and the US as well as the Middle East market. “We have tried exporting to Japan and the response so far is not bad. We are still going to put our focus on this market,” Lee added.

In terms of capital expenditure, Lee said the company has spent some RM80 million on its downstream durian business, while about RM90 million will be earmarked for its upstream durian plantation operations.

Currently, PLS has some 32,000ha of plantation land, of which about 600ha is planted with durians.

Lee said PLS is looking to buy some 80ha of existing durian plantation land within the next two years to expand the company’s upstream durian business.

PLS shares closed unchanged at 71 sen yesterday, valuing the company at RM249 million. PLS saw 59,100 shares traded.