Workers process cashew for exports (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The export turnover of 353,000 tonnes of cashew in2017 touched 3.52 billion USD, the highest level ever recorded, according tothe Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The figure represents a 23.8 percent rise compared to the value in 2016.
The largest consumers of Vietnamese cashew were the US, the Netherlands andChina with market shares of 35 percent, 15.6 percent and 12.9 percent,respectively.
Strong growth in export revenue was seen in Russia (56.3 percent), theNetherlands (44.7 percent), Thailand (41.4 percent), the US (27 percent), theUK (24.8 percent) and Israel (13.5 percent).
Exported cashew prices experienced a spike spurred by increasing demand butlimited supply. The price of processed cashew nut surged 22.3 percent year onyear to more than 9,900 USD per tonne.
Due to unfavourable weather conditions which hurt cashew production, domesticbusinesses spent 2.53 billion USD on imports of 1.28 million tonnes of rawcashew from Africa, Cambodia and Laos to meet export requirements.
In the last five years, Vietnam has become the world’s leading cashewprocessing centre with 1.6-1.7 million tonnes of raw cashew compared to 3.4million tonnes worldwide.
To reduce heavy reliance on cashew imports from African countries at highprices, Vietnam decided to invest in cashew cultivation in Cambodia, saidNguyen Duc Thanh, Chairman of the Vietnam Cashew Association (VINACAS).
Earlier, the VINACAS provided 1.5 billion USD (66,000 USD) to the CambodianMinistry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to grow one million cashewtrees on 500,000 hectares.-VNA
VNA
