Durian in Singapore is one of the few foods where the same fruit can cost you S$8 or S$24 per kilogram in the same month, and the gap has almost nothing to do with how it tastes. Early 2026 brought a Malaysian glut that pushed Mao Shan Wang down to around S$8 per kg at some Punggol and Geylang stalls, against a more typical S$15 to S$24 per kg the season before, according to reporting on the price crash. Prices have firmed up since, and the main June-to-August season is now in full swing. This guide gives you the current per-kg figures across every variety as of June 2026, shows when the cheap windows actually open, and walks through the weighing and grading tricks that quietly add 20 to 30 percent to your bill.
Durian is sold by weight, husk included, so the headline price per kg is only half the story (more on the husk problem below). The figures here are mid-season retail prices for whole fruit as listed by Singapore durian sellers and reported in price coverage as of June 2026. They move week to week, so treat them as a 'from' range, not a fixed rate.
Mao Shan Wang, also sold as Musang King or MSW, is the benchmark. In a normal season it runs roughly S$18 to S$24 per kg, with old-tree and high-altitude Pahang grades pushing past S$30. The early-2026 oversupply briefly dragged it to S$8 to S$18 per kg at value stalls before supply tightened toward Lunar New Year. The cheaper varieties below give you most of the durian experience for a fraction of the MSW premium.
| Variety | Also known as | Typical price/kg | What you pay for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mao Shan Wang | Musang King, MSW | S$18-24 (crash lows ~S$8) | Bittersweet, creamy, dense flesh; the brand-name king |
| Old-tree / Pahang MSW | Black Gold, high-altitude | S$30-34 | Older trees, smaller harvest, stronger bitter finish |
| Black Thorn | D200, Ochee | S$28-40 | Scarce premium grade, smooth and sweet |
| Golden Phoenix | Jin Feng, D198 | S$18-22 | Small seed, sharp bitter-sweet, lots of flesh per fruit |
| Red Prawn | Ang Heh, D13 | S$12-16 | Orange flesh, sweet and slightly wet; crowd-pleaser |
| D24 | Sultan | S$12-14 | The classic all-rounder, balanced and affordable |
| D101 | - | S$14-16 | Sweet, mild bitterness, good value entry point |
| XO | - | S$12-16 | Boozy, bitter, watery flesh for hardcore fans |
Durian is seasonal, and the season is the single biggest lever on price. Singapore imports roughly 85 to 91 percent of its durian from Malaysia, so Malaysian harvests set the rate. The main season runs from about June to August, with the absolute peak and lowest prices usually landing in July and August when fruit floods in. There is often a smaller secondary flush around November to December.
Buy in the trough, not the spike. At the start of a season, prices are high because supply is thin; once the harvest peaks, per-kg rates can fall by a third or more within a few weeks. The early-2026 glut showed how extreme this gets, with one report noting prices around S$8 cheaper per kg than the prior season before sellers warned of a 20 to 30 percent rebound as supply tightened. If you are not chasing a specific variety, waiting two or three weeks into peak season is the cleanest discount you can get.
Public holidays, Lunar New Year and weekends push prices up because demand spikes while supply does not. The same logic applies to deciding any discretionary purchase: spend when the market is oversupplied, hold when everyone else is buying. If you want a structured way to budget these seasonal treats, run them through the personal budget calculator so durian season does not quietly eat your dining allowance.
Because durian is priced per kg with the husk on, the most common way to overpay is weight. A few stalls weigh the fruit before opening, quote you a price, then the heavy husk and seeds (often half the total weight) are part of what you paid for. Reputable sellers weigh, open in front of you, and let you reject fruit that is unripe, watery or infested before money changes hands.
Watch for these patterns, all of which add cost without adding flesh:
There are three ways to buy, and the cheapest depends on volume and timing. Eating at a Geylang or Balestier stall gets you the lowest per-kg rate and the right to inspect every fruit, but you pay in time and travel. Delivery adds convenience at a cost: most durian delivery services in Singapore charge for orders under a threshold, with free island-wide delivery commonly kicking in above S$80 to S$100 and higher minimums (around S$150) for Sentosa and Lim Chu Kang.
Frozen and preserved durian is the newer angle. Off-season, premium Malaysian supply can drop 80 to 90 percent, so several operators now buy MSW at peak-season volumes, preserve it with controlled freezing, and sell year-round at a premium over in-season fresh fruit. It solves availability rather than price; you pay more for the convenience of eating MSW in March. If you only want durian when it is genuinely cheap, fresh in peak season still wins on dollars per kg.
Treat the delivery threshold the way you would any minimum-spend offer: only useful if you were buying that much anyway. Padding an order to hit free delivery is the same trap as the credit-card minimum spend, and the same discipline that helps your savings goal calculator targets applies to a durian run. For the longer game, the habit of buying value over brand is what compounds, the same way it does in compounding returns.
Price aside, the fastest way to waste money is paying premium rates for a bad fruit. You do not need to be an expert; a few checks at the stall protect you.
If a stall will not let you smell, shake or inspect before paying, that is the signal to walk. The good sellers compete on letting you check, because they know their fruit holds up. A durian session is a treat, not an investment, but the same logic that separates a good festive food buy from an overpriced one applies here: pay for the flesh and the freshness, not the queue or the label.
An unusually large Malaysian harvest created a regional oversupply, and because Singapore imports the vast majority of its durian from Malaysia, the glut pushed retail Mao Shan Wang down to around S$8 per kg at some value stalls, against a more typical S$15 to S$24 the season before. Sellers expected a 20 to 30 percent rebound as supply tightened.
The main season runs roughly June to August, with peak harvest and the lowest prices usually in July and August when Malaysian fruit floods the market. Prices are highest at the start of a season and around weekends, public holidays and Lunar New Year, so waiting a few weeks into peak season is the simplest way to pay less per kg.
It depends on your taste. Mao Shan Wang has dense, bittersweet, creamy flesh that many fans pay S$18 to S$24 per kg for, but D24, Red Prawn and D101 deliver much of the durian experience at S$12 to S$16 per kg. If you prefer sweeter, less bitter flesh, a cheaper variety may suit you better and save 30 to 50 percent.
Insist the seller weighs and opens the fruit in front of you, and only pay for what you keep after rejecting any unripe or watery ones. Avoid stalls that pre-weigh and refuse to re-weigh, that quietly swap a cheaper variety for a pricier one, or that sell pre-boxed durian with no visible weight. Inspecting before paying is your main protection.
This is general financial information for Singapore, not personal financial advice. Figures change — verify current rates against the official sources above before acting. See our full disclaimer.