Kuala Lampur, July 4 -- For generations, durian was simply what Malaysians ate when the season came around, a cheap roadside staple and a fixture of kampung childhoods long before anyone thought to export it.

Somewhere around 2018, that changed. Durian suddenly became an investment, a status symbol, and for a fortunate generation of growers, a pathway to extraordinary wealth.

This week, that boom finally met its bust. Musang King, which traded at RM90 a kilogram barely a year ago, has been selling at orchards for as little as RM9. Many are calling it a "durian tsunami". The headlines are familiar by now.

What is worth examining is why it happened, and what it tells us about the economics of a commodity that grew faster than anyone coul...