From late September, thin-shell walnuts around Aksu and Wensu enter harvest, with the supply window usually running into May of the following year. Export demand centres on the 185 and Xinxin No.2 varieties — thin shells, high kernel yield, light-coloured kernels.
Post-harvest handling is the part that matters most. Freshly hulled walnuts carry high moisture; bagging and stacking them straight away leads to dark kernels and sometimes mould. The standard routine is to spread them for air drying, then finish in a low-temperature dryer down to below 8% moisture. Too high a drying temperature drives oil out of the kernel and turns the flavour bitter, so the temperature curve matters more than the total drying time.
For grading, export orders are usually split by diameter into 32–34mm and 34mm+, with a defect rate held under 2%. Kernel orders need extra attention to broken-half ratio and pellicle colour. Bleached goods look uniform but are no longer welcome in several markets, so we supply unbleached material on request.
Packing is normally 10kg or 20kg export cartons with a moisture-barrier liner. For sea freight, avoid stowing alongside high-moisture cargo, and hanging desiccant inside the container noticeably reduces the risk of damp damage.
