Raw cedar nut sales are taking place all over Ulaanbaatar, but enforcement of the law protecting forests makes the harvest, sale and purchase of the popular cedar nuts illegal before October 15.

According to regulations, the collection of cedar nuts is permitted from October 15 to March 15. This is the best time to collect the nuts as the Siberian pine are in season during this period every three or four years. In Mongolia, pine forests cover a little more than 683,000 hectares, and make up forest resources of 120.8 mil cubic meters. That is only 5.6 percent of the nation's forests and 9.2 percent of forest resources.

Pine forests play a significant role in regulating and filtering the flow of natural streams, protecting against soil erosion, modifying the climate, helping to eliminate greenhouse gas, creating habitats for animals and plants, and maintaining glaciations.

Pine forests are also significant  for their biodiversity. Cedar nuts should be collected when they are in season and dry enough, and their harvest in September or October may have negative impacts on the trees.

 It is difficult to pull green cones from pines, and collectors might break branches or damage pines as they shake trees to collect cones. The body of the pine or crown can be damaged.

Green cones also have greater quantities of pine resin and can cause infectious disease.

According to the Law on Forest articles 47.2.1 and 47.2.4, any civilian who violates the law by collecting, carrying or selling illegally pine nuts before the allowed period will have their products seized, along with the income from illegal sales, and fined with five times the minimum wage, and any company or business entity will be fined 15 times the minimum wage.