Sexagenarian trader Haji Qutubuddin’s heart was heavy as he worked in his dusty Zhob godown on an autumn morning in 2025.

Around him lay sacks of freshly harvested pine nuts from the Koh-i-Sulaiman Range — a crop that sustains thousands of families across northern Balochistan. But unlike previous seasons, traders and forest owners gathering outside were not celebrating the harvest. The price of pine nuts — locally known as chilghoza — had collapsed, threatening the livelihoods of communities that depend almost entirely on the crop.

Qutubuddin, a trader for four decades, attributes multiple factors to this price collapse — disruption in exports, decline in rainfall in the area and a lack of cold storage facilities in the town. “We were forced to sell our produce prematurely at low prices,” he tells Eos. “Poor storage adversely impact the nuts’ size, taste and quality.”

Pakistan’s growing chilghoza trade generates millions of dollars annually. Yet on the slopes of the world’s largest pure pine forest in Balochistan’s Sulaiman Range, the people who depend on the trade for survival are facing their toughest season in years…

Pakistan’s growing chilghoza trade generates millions of dollars annually. Yet on the slopes of the world’s largest pure pine forest in Balochistan’s Sulaiman Range, the people who depend on the trade for survival are facing their toughest season in years…

Mehmood Khan Kharoti, a trader with a decade of experience, says pine nut prices plummeted to Rs2,000 per kilogramme (kg) in 2025 from Rs7,000 a season earlier. “If we had a storage facility in town, one kg could easily have been sold in Lahore for 7,000 to 8,000 rupees,” he tells Eos.

It is equally bad for growers, says Faizullah Khan, who lives on the foothills of the Sulaiman Range. “I used to sell around 4,000 kilos of chilghoza, but this year I managed to sell only 1,200 kilos,” he tells Eos.

The intermittent closure of the Afghan border also reduced the demand for pine nuts, driving down prices further. Trader Abdul Qayyum, who moved his business to Zhob after the border closure, tells Eos........

© Dawn (Magazines)