Vietnam's cashew industry reduces reliance on African sources

According to Vietnam Cashew Association (VINACAS), Vietnam imported more than 1 million tons of raw cashews over the past five years. In particular, the year 2016 marked the record number of imported raw cashews as they reached 1.14 million tons, exceeding the mark of 1 million tons for the first time. In 2017, Vietnam imported 1.312 million tons while those of 2018 and 2019 were 1.261 and 1.677 million tons respectively. 

In 2020, Vietnam's raw cashew imports reached a record of 1,736 million tons. It is expected that in 2021, Vietnam will import about 1.45 million tons. 

Previously, Vietnam imported raw cashew nuts mainly from Africa, and the remaining was bought from Indonesia and Cambodia among others. Due to the reliance on raw cashew imported from Africa, Vietnamese cashew businesses often encountered big problems, especially in terms of cashew quality.

General Director Bach Khanh Nhut of Vinacontrol in Ho Chi Minh City (a company specializing in quality inspection of imported raw cashew nuts) said that many batches of African raw cashew nuts that arrived in previous years in Vietnam had poor quality. The most common pros were that raw cashews have high moisture as they are not dried enough to reach the specified moisture content. It took 50-60 days for those batches to be delivered from Africa to Vietnam by sea, so when the container was opened, the mold had already grown. There were many containers in which the cashews have all sprouted. 

On the other hand, many African countries growing cashew are tending to step up the processing of cashew kernels to reduce the number of raw cashew exports. 

Vietnam's cashew industry has made efforts to maintain and develop the country's sector and promote the development of cashew plants in Cambodia, the neighboring country. Cambodia is currently spending around 500,000 hectares to plant cashew, which produces fairly good-quality nuts. The Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries are very interested in the development of cashew trees to improve the lives of farmers.

General Director of Tanimex - LA (an enterprise based in Long An province), and former Chairman of VINACAS Nguyen Duc Thanh, said that in 2017, VINACAS conducted surveys on several places in Cambodia and found that these areas feature climate and soil suitable for the growth of cashew trees. Since then, VINACAS has cooperated with Cambodia's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries and businesses in this country to build raw material areas.

Efforts to develop cashew trees in Cambodia have yielded good results, which is showing in the number of raw cashews imported from this country into Vietnam. In the first 4 months of 2021, Vietnam imported 1.151 million tons of raw cashew, of which nearly 837,000 tons came from Cambodia, accounting for more than 72% of the total imports. 

Some businessmen said that many other countries in Southeast Asia also grow cashews such as Thailand, Laos... Therefore, it is not excluded that raw cashew nuts from these countries also go through Cambodia to enter Vietnam. However, the huge amount of cashew imports from Cambodia is helping Vietnam's cashew industry to significantly reduce its dependence on African raw cashews, thereby being more proactive in the source of raw materials and better controlling the quality of imported raw cashew.