The Afghan Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) on Saturday said that this year Afghanistan has produced nearly 23,000 tons of pine nuts, a figure that contradicts the numbers of an international institution that says that last year the overall production of pine nuts in the world was around 18,000 tons and Afghanistan had only harvested 3,000 tons.

Based on a five-year plan between Afghanistan and China, Afghanistan committed to export 62,000 tons of pine nuts to China in five years. But statistics show that so far Afghanistan has managed to export only 5 percent of the 62,000 tones.

The harvest season of pine nuts has come to an end, and Afghanistan has only managed to export.1,980 tons of pine nuts to the Chinese markets.

“Last year our exports through the air corridor and land route were around 1,600 metric tons, but this year, the figure has increased to over 2,000 metric tons which show a significant increase,” said Akbar Rustami, a spokesman for MAIL.

But, a member of the exporters union denied the figure, saying only 150 to 200 tons of pine nuts are currently available to be exported to China.

“We are at the end of export season of pine nuts, our exports are ending now, so we are waiting to see how much we can export next year,” said Younus Mohmand, deputy head of Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment.

According to the business community, some of Afghanistan’s pine nuts are being smuggled to Pakistan.

“When someone wants to transfer pine nuts to Pakistan, they pay money to the border police and do the job, its difficult to prevent smuggling,” said Zareem Khan Adel, a businessman.

But there are questions about the exports and production.