County in Hebei brings clearer rules to collectible walnut trade

New standards have been introduced for mahetao, or collectible walnuts, in Laishui county, Baoding city, Hebei province, as one of China's major production hubs moves to establish clearer rules for grading and trading a product whose value had long been determined by subjectivity.

The standards, which took effect in September, set technical rules for quality, classification, testing, pairing, and the identification of assembled products. They come as Laishui's mahetao industry has grown to an annual output value of more than 2.2 billion yuan ($329 million), accounting for over 70 percent of the national market.

For growers such as Zhang Huixin in Dujiazhuang village, the lack of common standards had long made pricing unpredictable.

"In the past, we grew them and sold them ourselves, and prices were unstable," Zhang said. "A buyer would come, take a look and feel the walnuts, and whatever price he offered was the price. Good walnuts didn't necessarily fetch a good price."