Cashew imports reached nearly US$ 2 billion in the first four months

According to the General Statistics Office, domestic cashew processing enterprises imported 480,000 tons of cashew nuts with a total value of US$ 772 million in April 2021, equivalent to March 2021, but sharply increased by 375% in volume as well as 470.5% in value over the same period in 2020.

Generally, in the first 4 months of 2021, Vietnam imported a total of nearly 1.2 million tons of cashew nuts with a value of up to US$ 1.9 billion, which is an increase of 300% in volume and 323.5% in value compared to the same period of last year.

The average import price of raw cashew nuts in the first four months of 2021 is estimated at US$ 1,580 per ton, up 5.8% over with the same period in 2020.

Therefore, the volume of imported raw cashew after the first 4 months of 2021 was nearly equal to the total import in the whole year 2020 (1.45 million tons), while the turnover was higher due to the increase in raw material prices.

The increase in raw cashew imports is partly due to abnormal weather events causing the domestic cashew harvest to come more than a month later.

Heavy rainfall in cashew growing provinces such as Binh Phuoc, Dong Naim in the right harvest season is another factor making farmers could not be exposed to affect the quality of cashew nuts.

This is also the reason why the purchasing prices of fresh cashew nuts in the domestic market fluctuate with a slight downward trend.

Data from the Department of Agricultural Product Processing and Market Development, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, showed that the raw material prices fluctuated from stable to slightly decreased in the past month.

In detail, dried cashew nuts bought bucket in Binh Phuoc decreased from VND 29,500 per kg to VND 24,000 per kg. In Dong Nai, it continues to hold at 30,500 VND per kg. Binh Phuoc and some cashew-growing provinces in the Southeast are currently in the harvest.

Vietnam cashew industry is facing many new challenges, Mr. Pham Van Cong - Chairman of the Vietnam Cashew Association (VINACAS) analyzed.

All businesses around the world are making efforts to develop. Vietnam's increasingly deep integration with the world brings great opportunities for the cashew industry to expand its market, develop production and business, but the competition will be fiercer.

VINACAS thinks though the pandemic has been controlled in China, it was still not yet under control in many countries and territories around the world, especially the US and Europe, which are traditional cashew export markets of Vietnam and where customers are requesting early delivery due to fears global freight may be in trouble.

According to the association, in the United States and the EU, restricted travel has led to increasing demand for essential food reserves, including processed cashew nuts. Especially, in the EU, importers were looking to buy goods to store because of the concern that the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa will affect the supply of raw cashew nuts for Vietnam and India.

The association also mentions the high risk of buying raw cashew nuts from Africa without having a contract for their processed nuts or having a plan to resell the materials.

In recent years, the shortage of domestic raw materials has always been a difficult problem for cashew processing enterprises. In mid-2020, many small and medium-sized cashew processing factories had to suspend production or reduce capacity as the price of raw cashew was too high compared to the price of cashew that can be sold.

Therefore, the increase in raw materials right from the first months of this year shows that businesses have been more proactive in context with the input price increase and not improved selling price.

The demand for cashew kernels remained stable, even increased during the Covid-19 epidemic. Consumption of processed cashew nuts decreased deeply in hotels and restaurants but increased in supermarkets.

Overall, cashew kernel consumption is forecast to increase. This increase, in addition to the reason for storing food to prevent disease, also reflects the trend that has continued for the past 3 years.

Currently, Vietnam has used up to 50% of the total world raw cashew production (about 4 million tons per year). To meet the increasing demand, VINACAS expects the volume of cashew imported in 2021 to reach 1.8 million tons. However, with the current growth rate, the number of imports may be higher.