KUNMING, Oct. 26 (China Economic Net) – A flight carrying 25 tons of Pakistani pine nuts arrived at Kunming Changshui Airport recently in southwest China’s Yunnan Province.

 

“Baxi pine nuts”, a snack popular in China in recent years, has always been mistaken by Chinese consumers as being produced in Brazil. In fact, they are from Chilgoza pine forest in Pakistan's western region Parachinar. Historically, Pakistan has been a traditional exporter of pine nuts, most of which are sold to China through the Khunjerab Port in Kashgar, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Nowadays some vendors are purchasing such pine nuts in Xinjiang because of its advantage of road traffic.

 

Pakistan pine nut is of the best quality in the world with its large kernel, thin skin, high nutritional value and medicinal value. According to a pine nut supplier in China, some pine nuts take up to three years to mature. They are also difficult to harvest, which justifies their high price.

 

The harvest season begins in early September. The local people collect pine corns by self-picking from trees and bury for about two weeks till the corn open. Fresh pine nuts are easy to deteriorate and become moldy. Therefore, in order to ensure the quality of pine nuts, they need to be shipped by air in time, the Chinese supplier said.

 

Gao Shang, head of cargo product of Air Freight Department of YTO Express, told China Economic Net (CEN) that October and November is the peak season for the import of Pakistani pine nuts. In order to solve the transportation problems caused by the COVID-19 epidemic and ensure the smooth flow of cargo between China and Pakistan, YTO arranged B757F cargo aircraft to carry 25 tons of pine nuts in 3 shifts per week. At present, YTO has shipped over 200 tons of pine nuts from Pakistan to China. These pine nuts will be sold in Hangzhou and Shaoxing city in east China.

 

According to previous news from CEN, in addition to pine nuts, YTO also delivered mangoes, the king fruit of Pakistan, from Lahore to Kunming and Shanghai. Thanks to the "air + land" combined transport mode and cold chain end distribution of YTO, the mangoes remain fresh when delivered to Chinese consumers. As economic and trade ties between China and Pakistan continue to deepen, more and more high-quality Pakistani agricultural products will come to China and become popular among Chinese foodies, Gao said.