Some Chinese firms sell Afghan pine nuts under Brazil trademark

KABUL (Pajhwok): Some Chinese companies are selling Afghanistan’s pine nuts under the name of Brazil which is mistakenly derived from “West Pakistan” “Xī Bājīsītǎn, in short Bāxī, the name of Brazil in Chinese language.

According to reports, Afghanistan pine nuts were previously illegally trafficked to Pakistan and from there exported to China and some other countries under its own trademarks.

In 2018, Afghanistan opened an air corridor with China and most of the fruit is now exported through air cargo, which has mostly prevented the illegal trafficking.

However, a number of Chinese companies sell Afghanistan pine nuts under the trademark of Brazil.

A journalist with China Radio International, Diwa, told Pajhwok Afghan News that many people in China liked Afghanistan pine nuts but Afghans in the country ask “why the fruit of their country is sold under trademarks of Brazil”.

Lujian Jung, owner of a pine nut processing company in China’s Zhejiang province, told Diwa that the root of the matter originated years back.

“Years back, Pakistani traders would export Afghanistan pine nuts to Kashgar city in Zhejiang province when the corridor between Afghanistan and China was not yet opened, there are also trees of pine nuts in Pakistan’s western region, so Chinese traders thought the fruit is produced in Pakistan,” he said.

When asked why Afghanistan pine nuts were sold under the trademarks of Brazil, Jung said, “In Chinese language western Pakistan is called (西巴基斯坦) Xī bājīsītǎn, it means that Pakistan in Chinese is called Bājīsītǎn and west is called Xī, but in short, both names together is called (巴西) or Bāxī, which means Brazil.”

He said many Chinese had no enough information about Pakistan and Afghanistan and they mistakenly used the trademarks of Brazil, which actually used for west Pakistan, but also used for Afghanistan.

Diwa said there were many pine nut processing factories in China and some of them used the trademarks of Afghanistan on the fruit imported from this country.

All factories that process the fruits of Afghanistan in China would be trademarked under this country over time, she said.

HANGZHOU FUYANG SANLU FOOD CO., LTD —LU GE, a major pine nuts processing company in Hangzhou city of China still uses packages with trademarks of Brazil while the fruit inside them is imported from Afghanistan.

Abdul Aziz, an Afghan trader in China, said that Chinese traders say they could not change the name as the product was famous in markets with this name.

But he said many small Chinese companies now used the name of Afghanistan on packages of pine nuts. He said that Brazil also produced pine nuts but it had lower quality compared to Afghanistan.

Xui Zhan Jung, director of a fruits processing company in China, said that they sold pine nuts of Afghanistan under the name of Afghanistan and after the opening of the air corridor between the two countries, people there understood that the pine nuts previously sold under the name of Brazil were actually a product of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) deputy head, Mohammad Younus Momand, said that pine nuts of Afghanistan exported to China through the air corridor were sold under the name of Afghanistan.

He said before the air corridor, Afghanistan’s pine nuts were exported to Pakistan where Pakistani exporters would use their own trademarks, but now this issue was mostly prevented.

Mds/ma

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