Between September and October this year, Inner Mongolia’s Manzhouli border land port saw significant increases in total the volume of Russian pine nut exports. Nearly 3,000 tons of pine nuts worth $9.9 million overall were transported to China in these two months, 2.6 and 1.6 times the export volume and value of last year's similar period, respectively. By the end of 2016 exports are estimated to reach 5,000 tons.
Russia’s pine nut industry experienced a bumper crop this year, and the increased demand has sent prices for the nuts plummeting. One week after the harvest started in early September, the local market wholesale price for pine nuts dropped by nearly 50%. The retail price similarly fell, plummeting 50% from $6.30 to $3.16 per kilogram. This certainly impacted export prices and contributed to the rise in export shipments.
Demand in China for pine nuts in 2016 increased and opened new opportunities for pine nut importers and exporters alike. This year China eliminated the value-added tax and the consumption tax for imported raw ingredients and products for which the processing would be done in China. This new change in policy, plus the price decrease of the nuts, are being attributed to the increased exports to China.
