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Afghan growers seek larger market for profitable pine nuts

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(Last Updated On: November 13, 2021)

The pine nut growers in Afghanistan are hoping to further expand overseas market and earn a fair income in a bumper harvest, trying to shake off the negative impacts brought by COVID-19 and domestic turmoil.

Afghanistan is having a bumper harvest of pine nuts, with its output reaching 17,000 tons this year.

Harvesting and processing pine nuts has been a family business in every harvest season as a very important source of income. From pine cones to the ready-for-sale products, the fat-rich nuts need to go through multiple procedures.

The best pine nuts in the country gathered in the pine nut wholesale market in Kabul. The merchants and workers are busy cleaning, sorting and packaging them.

Pine nut trees grow in eight eastern provinces of Afghanistan, including Khost, Paktia, Paktika, Kapisa, Kunar, Nangarhar, Nuristan and Laghman.

The country’s northeastern mountains, where the average altitude is higher than 1,000 meters with lots of snow and sunlight, provide sound environment for pine trees with pine nuts of outstanding quality.

“Paktia people’s life depends on pine nuts because they don’ have land. The Urgun region in Paktia and the Khost Province are basically mountains, and locals harvest pine nuts from there,” said Abdul Wali, a pine nut trader.

“Pine nut is good for human body. That’s why we like to have it,” said Ahmad Jaweed, a customer.

Despite the good harvest, the pine nuts can hardly reach its essential overseas market due to the impact of COVID-19 and complicated domestic situation.

“The price is better than before. In the past, one kilo of pine nuts was 2,800 afghani to 3,000 afghani (about 30-32 U.S. dollars). But now it’s 1,700 A to 1,800 afghani (18.5-19.6 U.S dollars) because exporting them to other countries became difficult,” Jaweed said.

People in China helped out as a close neighbor earlier this month. During a live-streaming promotion event of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) on Nov 6, the influencers from China Media Group (CMG) and e-commerce companies sold 120,000 cans of pine nuts in minutes.

The Afghanistan Pine Nuts Production Union wrote a thanks letter to CMG. The pine nuts traders said that this business can not only bring in foreign exchanges to Afghanistan, but also provide large amounts of job opportunities.

“If we do pine nut business with China, I can tell you that around 50,000 people will have jobs in this field,” Wali said.

“From the economic point of view, it’s very beneficial for us,” Jaweed said.

Business

Afghanistan, Pakistan agree to abandon barter trade, establish banking relationships

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(Last Updated On: March 29, 2024)

Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to abandon barter trade and to establish banking relationships during the two-day talks in Kabul, the Islamic Emirate’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid announced late Thursday.

The agreement came during talks between Afghan delegation led by Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce, Nooruddin Azizi, and the Pakistani delegation led by Federal Secretary of Commerce Muhammad Khurram Agha.

It was agreed that the Pakistani side will facilitate the transfer of goods from international containers to regional containers in the ports of Karachi in the next six months, Mujahid said in a statement.

An agreement was made regarding preferential trade, where both sides will give tariff preferences to those 10 items of export goods, 8 of which are agricultural and 2 items are industrial.

The sides agreed on a temporary free license for truck traffic for one year as a trial period, which will be implemented from May 2024.

They also reached an agreement regarding the transfer of goods through the airports of the two countries in the form of multi-modal air transit, which will start in the next two months.

As part of Pakistan’s recent measures regarding Afghanistan’s transit goods, it was agreed that within a week, the mandatory bank guarantee should be removed and insurance should be used as before, in consultation with the parties, the necessary measures will be taken to remove other obstacles.

The export of coal from Afghanistan to Pakistan was also discussed and the Pakistani side expressed its readiness to buy it at the international price, according to the statement.

Earlier Pakistan’s Charge d’Affaires for Afghanistan, Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani said in a video message on Wednesday that the recent trade talks in Kabul had been “successful” and that he hoped this would give fresh impetus to bilateral trade between the two countries.

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Pakistan’s commerce delegation wraps up ‘successful’ trip to Kabul

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(Last Updated On: March 28, 2024)

Pakistan’s Charge d’Affaires for Afghanistan, Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani said in a video message on Wednesday that the recent talks between Islamabad’s commerce delegation and Afghan officials had been “successful” and that he hoped this would give fresh impetus to bilateral trade between the two countries.

“I’m happy to report that this was a successful visit and both sides have agreed to work together for mutual benefit on a number of areas.

“They will facilitate transit, they will facilitate bilateral trade and they will take all possible measures that create an environment for continuous and productive trade and economic relations between the two countries,” he said.

The delegation, led by Commerce Ministry Secretary Khurram Agha, arrived in Kabul on Monday and had numerous talks on various issues with Islamic Emirate officials.

The visit came amid deteriorating bilateral relations following several suicide attacks in Pakistan in the last couple of months that Islamabad attributes to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants, a group they claim is based in Afghanistan.

Diplomatic tensions between the two countries over the last few months have led to economic losses, as key border crossings for trade and travel have closed intermittently, resulting in goods trucks being held up at border posts.

Afghanistan’s Minister for Industry and Commerce Nurudin Azizi meanwhile said the IEA had held fruitful negotiations in a cordial environment with the visiting delegation.

“We discussed in detail with the Pakistani side specific issues related to heavy transport vehicles that will be resolved,” he said.

“We will achieve positive results as our discussions remained productive.”

Azizi said Afghanistan expected to sign a formal agreement with Pakistan within six months, allowing Pakistani trucks to enter Afghanistan and travel to the Central Asian states and Afghan trucks to go all the way to the Pakistani port cities of Karachi and Gwadar.

Apart from discussing trade-related issues, the two sides also focused on movement of passengers, patients and businesspeople across their common border during these talks.

Azizi noted uninterrupted trade and business between Kabul and Islamabad would play a significant role in creating a peaceful environment between the two countries and facilitate their economic development.

He said the two sides also pledged to enhance their existing trade volume, adding that both countries could become ideal markets for each other if they did not allow business to be affected by any geopolitical tensions.

Azizi also said Afghanistan could export agricultural products to China and other countries via Pakistan’s ports and cities.

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Turkey’s 77 keen to start up cement plant in Jawzjan

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(Last Updated On: March 27, 2024)

Turkish construction company 77 officials have met with the acting minister of mines and petroleum, Shahabuddin Delawar, about investing in a cement factory in Yatim Taq area of Jawzjan province.

The minister, Shahabuddin Dalawar, has said the ministry will cooperate with the company but first needs a proposal, including details around how they plan to implement the project as well as social development plans.

Turkey’s 77 company has been working on electricity generation projects in Afghanistan for several years.

A number of industrialists say that if more investment is made in the cement production sector, not only will domestic demand be met, but the country’s cement will also be exported.

At the moment, cement is being produced by private companies in the provinces of Kandahar, Parwan and Herat.

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