Could a fruit that smells so offensive it can cause entire buildings to be evacuated be the next baby milk formula craze for Chinese consumers?

Key points: Durian imports to China have risen sharply and are now worth more than $1 billion

Durian imports to China have risen sharply and are now worth more than $1 billion Frenzied buying from Chinese tourists mean local buyers have to pay more for limited fruit

Frenzied buying from Chinese tourists mean local buyers have to pay more for limited fruit It's banned on many public transport systems in South-East Asia due to its notorious smell

Demand for durian, that famously delicious or stinky fruit — depending on who you ask — is experiencing a major boom in China.

In April, Chinese consumers snapped up 80,000 durians in just 60 seconds on online shopping site Alibaba as part of a deal between the retailer and Thailand, the largest producer of durians in the world.

There is a big range of durian-flavoured products on e-commerce sites like Alibaba. ( Supplied: Alibaba )

A durian fair in southern China last year drew more than 150,000 Chinese buyers willing to spend big on the fruit — and it doesn't stop there: there is also durian-flavoured ice cream, coffee, and lollies as well as frozen durian and durian Halloween masks.

Big western chains in Asia have taken note, too, with McDonalds making durian McFlurrys and hotcakes and Pizza Huts serving durian pizza.

Durian imports to China have been rising on average at 35 per cent a year according to trade data from the United Nations, and were worth $1.1 billion last year, up from just $243 million a decade ago.

Currently, only Thailand can import fresh durians directly into China — due to trade arrangements and processing issues around non-fresh durians — but many Chinese consumers are after different varieties of the fruit such as the highly pungent Musang King, which is grown in Malaysia and is banned on many public transport systems in South-East Asia.

Side-stepping import restrictions through HK, eating tours

Because of their smell, durians are banned from public transport and hotels in some Asian countries. ( Matt Brann )

"Durians are best eaten fresh. To attract more Chinese tourists, the best way is to bring them here to enjoy the freshest durians," Steel Zhao, Tourism Malaysia's China marketing manager, told the Malaysian National News Agency earlier this year.

But unlike China, Hong Kong has no restrictions on importing fresh Malaysian durians, and has seen frenzied buying from Chinese mainland durian tourists in recent years, local durian blogger Sarita Low told the ABC.

Ms Low said people paid on average up to $US60 ($82) for a single fruit and sometimes more if it had been a poor growing season, with some reporting prices in the hundreds of dollars for a single durian of a prized variety.

"All of the fresh Malaysian durian comes via Hong Kong — logistics, [trade] costs, and high real estate prices contribute to higher prices here," she said.

More recently, durian buying and eating tours have become increasingly popular with Chinese tourists who fly to Malaysia especially to buy up large quantities of the fruit.

Chinese tourists fly to Malaysia to buy up large quantities of the fruit. ( Reuters: Athit Perawongmetha )

"I remember locals being pretty pissed off with the durian sellers because busloads of Chinese tourists would descend on a durian stall and consume or purchase most of the durians, allowing the sellers to increase the prices for what is left," Ms Low said.

Author and durian expert Lindsay Gasik, who wrote The Durian Tourist's Guide to Penang, has seen firsthand the impact of Chinese demand.

"Several of the durian farms I used to buy from now supply only to China," she told the ABC.

"They can get about two times the price for the same durian they could sell locally if they sell to China."

Durian is 'extremely divisive' with reports of murders

People have reportedly paid hundreds of dollars for a single durian of a prized variety. ( Flickr: Luca Conti )

The durian often invokes a love or hate relationship — some people have literally killed to get their hands on the fruit while it also had at least two typhoons named after it.

"It is a delicacy that is extremely divisive, even in the closest knit of families," Ms Low said.

Ms Low loves durian for its unique layers of flavour and creamy texture, which she says beats anything man-made.

"Each durian fruit is also unique in its scent and flavour so there's a surprise and great anticipation for the next piece that you put into your mouth," she said.

In 2016, a Malaysian durian seller was reportedly stabbed to death after an argument with a customer dissatisfied with the quality of his durians, according to The Straits Times.

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Another durian-related murder case was reported by Malaysian local media in 2011, when a woman allegedly assaulted her brother-in-law with a piece of wood after a fight over a durian.

In Thailand, a wild elephant was so determined to get its trunk on a stash of durians it smashed down a store room wall and stole a horde of durians worth thousands of dollars.

In Australia last year, 500 people at Victoria University's Melbourne campus were evacuated after someone left a rotting durian in a locker, and a similar incident occurred at a Melbourne Hospital in 2014.

The new palm oil? Farmers opt for controversial fruit

Palm oil plantations are reportedly being torn out to make way for new durian plantations. ( Reuters: Athit Perawongmetha )

In Malaysia — the second biggest durian producer after Thailand — farmers have started replacing palm oil plantations with durian in anticipation of the current ban on fresh imports from Malaysia to China being lifted when the countries finalise a deal later this year.

According to former Malaysian Agriculture Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, durians can yield nine times more than palm oil per hectare and there is huge opportunity for growth in China.

"We should be proud because people say that in China, there are only two things they queue up for — one was when the iPhone X was released and the other, is durian from Malaysia," he told reporters last year.

There are 30 species of the controversial durian fruit. ( ABC Rural: Daniel Fitzgerald )

Ms Gasik said more people were investing in new durian orchards, but warned the fruit can be difficult to grow because it was susceptible to seasonal variations in yield and price.

"When I first got into durian in 2012 the durian 'bubble' had just burst and people were telling me there was no money in durian or even converting their orchards into palm oil," she said.

"Now people are chopping down their palm oil orchards and planting durian."