Vietnam Imports 1.5M Tons of Cashews Over Past Three Years
Vietnam imported over 1.5 million tons of raw cashews in the past three years despite being one of the largest cashew producers and exporters in the world, Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas) said.
Of the volume, 500,000 tons were imported from Africa, including Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique and from Asia, such as Indonesia and Cambodia.
Vinacas also estimated that domestic cashew companies have spent US$290 million-US$350 million importing raw materials since 2006.
Vietnam is expected to import 200,000 tons of raw cashews, which is about US$100 million-US$140 million, to meet the domestic processing capacity.
Vinacas has recently warned cashew exporters of a difficult year as the demand is dropping in some major import markets such as the U.S., Europe and China, lowering the average export price to only US$4,200/ton.
The total output of raw cashew is predicted to fall to 200,000-250,000 tons due to bad weather this year, pulling the cashew exports down to 150,000 tons.
Last year, Vietnam exported 167,000 tons of cashews, earning US$920 million, becoming the world’s largest cashew exporter. (Saigon Marketing)
Vietnamese
