Two years ago, I helped transport tung nuts from rural collection points to a factory where they were to be produced. I did it as a bit of a research project to get to know more about the inner workings of the local tung oil industry. There were few people willing to give clear information otherwise.
The important facts I was able to learn were what quality of tung nuts the factories will and will not buy and the best areas to find the best quality nuts. Ironically, the Sanjiang County area, stretching up into Southeastern Guizhou Province, is a huge base for tung nut production, but they are almost all shipped out of the area for processing.
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I was reading through an introduction to a local tung oil manufacturer and thought the information of what tung oil can be found here might be useful to buyers out there. I have stated before that many of these Chinese companies have decent Chinese language information out there for customers, but the English marketing is non-existant, crypticly translated, or not backed up with anybody who will answer a simple e-mail response.
And, as usual, the Chinese information is clear, concise, and detailed. Its English equivalent is so generalized that nobody would likely even notice the information, and if they did, would not know if the product they sought was for sale or not. So, here is my brief introduction to the tung oil available in the Liuzhou region.
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Is tung oil the unsung hero of small counties like Sanjiang? Well, "hero" is still up for debate, but it is most certainly unsung. As I flipped through the county's investment guide, there is not one mention of tung oil. And I really do not understand why.
Of course, I am thinking a bit more globally than the average small town resident. The guide lists products like beef, but I would not touch that one with a ten foot pole for foreign markets, because (no offense) the beef back home in the Great Plains of the United States way out ranks anything I have had in China. Now, before we chase a rabbit trail with the beef, the point is that the investment guide is very China-focused, and marketable resources like tung oil did not even make it in there with cow meat!
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In 2004, I made contact with county officials in several counties in Guizhou Province helping some customers hunt down information about the local tung oil markets. I gathered some interseting information in the process, and want to make that available to the non-Chinese speaking public.
I will provide a translation of the short information sheet given me by the Guizhou Province, Jinping County Agriculture Bureau titled, "Purchase and Marketing Quotes for Tung Nuts and Tung Oil."
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That time is upon us again. It is not exactly a celebrated season of the year, but farmers from Guangxi, Guizhou, and Hunan Provinces are preparing for the tung nuts to fall.
You may not be able to eat them, but you can sure sell them. Though, the rumor is that feeding tung oil to dogs will make them sterile...but you did not hear that here, because more than likely, it will kill them or give them a nasty stomach ache.
The annual process of harvesting, drying, and selling off the tung nuts comes some time in late September or November. Soon, the local tung oil "bosses" will be roaming the area looking for the best nuts they can find.
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Tung nuts are not all the same. The more picky companies will buy only nuts that are generally of a good quality and will yield more oil per weight of nuts. Many rural-based companies buy everything they can get their hands on.
Some nuts do have lower oil yield, but that does not necessarily mean the quality of oil is any worse, only that the profit margin is more narrow. The benefit of working with the higher grade companies is that they are a bit more organized and can give much better details about the grade of oil being sold.
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Same story, different product. Tung oil is another of the many resources found in rural China which still has much room for development.
Few of the inland tung oil producing companies are exporting in any significant amounts. Even the non-rural, city tung oil companies tend to export via co-ops or middle men. They have an excellent product, but do not have the communication skills to sell their product outside of China without help.
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Xinhua News Agency reports that a delegation of Hong Kong farming representatives will visit Korea for seven days in order to learn from Korea’s advanced technology and agrculture management. This is exactly what should be happening all over China, not just for relatively developed areas such as Hong Kong.
Agriculturists from the West, from Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand and Vietnam, and many other countries around the world have expertise that could be shared. How could these foreign professionals with a desire to help develop rural China help? How do they find opportunities?
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