Processing cashew nuts for export (Photo: VNA)Binh Phuoc (VNA)— Southern Binh Phuoc province held an internationalclients conference in the cashew industry on May 16 with a view to having more cashew products reaching globalmarkets.
Chairman of theprovincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Tram said Binh Phuoc has some 143,000hectares under cashew, accounting for nearly 50 percent of the country’s total,which yield 150,000 tonnes a year.
Earnings from cashewexports were worth 500 million USD last year, or nearly a third of theprovince’s total export income, he said.
Binh Phuoc is home tomore than 200 enterprises and establishments involved in cashew processing,providing jobs for more than 50,000 people.
Despite having thelargest cashew cultivation area in Vietnam, its products lack diversification,and are mainly semi-processed products with low value addition.
A majority of theprocessing firms are small and their technologies are not uniformly modern,which limits the competitiveness of the industry, Tram said, adding that climatechange too has caused difficulties for the industry.
“Therefore, through thisconference, Binh Phuoc calls for and wants cooperation with provinces and citiesand international friends.”
Nguyen Anh Hoang, Directorof the provincial Department of Industry and Trade, said Binh Phuoc is seeking domesticand foreign partners to invest or cooperate in producing more diversifiedproducts and expanding consumption both in domestic and foreign markets.
“We are also calling forinternational support to help businesses in the province improve theirmanagement capacity in terms of nutrition and food safety to enable more cashewproducts from the province to penetrate your [foreign] markets.”
At the conference, attendeessaid to enable sustainable development of the sector, enterprises will need topay more attention to product quality.
Tjasse PieterDijksterhuis from the Netherlands’s Decamerone BV said major customers inEurope and the US are increasingly demanding mandatory quality testing, and socompanies must ensure specification compliance when exporting.
Nguyen Duc Thanh, Chairmanof the Vietnam Cashew Association, said many cashew producers and processors,acknowledging that hygiene and food safety requirements are increasing in theglobal market, focused on producing clean cashew nuts and ensuring consistentquality.
“Enterprises haveshifted from competition in prices to competition in quality, with many firmsinvesting in modern technologies to add value to their products.”
Small and medium-sizedfirms could face financial difficulties in this regard and should co-operatewith large firms, he said.
Industry and Trade Department Director Hoang said: “We have made greatstrides in improving product quality at all stages from planting to processingbased on stringent hygiene and food safety standards.”
The French Government issponsoring the province’s efforts to obtain geographical indicationcertification for Binh Phuoc Cashew. Hoang said this would be a good foundationfor the province to promote its best cashew products around the world.
Vietnam exported 79,000 tonnes of cashew worth 735million USD in the first four months of this year, a 13.1 percent fall in volumebut an increase of 7 percent in value year on year, with the US, China and theNetherlands being the largest importers.-VNA
VNA
