Cashew Export Expects Stable Year
Viet Nam shipped 37,000 tonnes of cashew nut in the first two months and pocketed US$278 million of turnover, up 5.3 per cent in quantity and 11 per cent in value, according to the Viet Nam Cashew Association (Vinacas).
Vinacas reported that due to dry weather, cashew crop would last longer until early June with lower output (down 15 per cent against last year).
Speaking at a meeting in HCM City last week, Vinacas’s chairman Nguyen Duc Thanh said that global demand for the nut was expected to remain high this year, especially in the U.S., Middle East and Chinese markets.
But domestic cashew processors have not had enough materials to process for exports. Large cashew processing companies had materials just enough by February, Mr Thanh said.
"Enterprises have had to wait for the main harvest in Viet Nam and Cambodia to buy materials for processing,” he said. “But the impact of El Nino this year means a bumper crop is unlikely.
Mr Thanh also forecast 2016 would be a difficult year for domestic exporters as cashew prices are on the decline in the global market amidst domestic high costs and strict demands of importers.
However, he believed that lower tariffs under free trade agreements, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, would enable Vietnamese firms to increase exports to TPP member countries.
VGP
Vietnamese
