Vietnam, the world’s second biggest cashew exporter, is estimated to notch up some US$400 million from exporting cashew nuts this year, down from US$486 million last year and from the set target of US$620 million, said the industry officials.
The decrease is partly attributed to falling global demand which results in low export prices. The low quality of Vietnamese nuts is also another reason, according to experts of the field.
In the first eight months of this year, the country shipped abroad some 79,000 tons of cashew nuts worth $317 million, bearing an on-year drop of 17.8 per cent in value despite an increase of 24 per cent in volume due to low prices, said the Vietnam Cashew Association.
Major importers included China, the US, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada, the UK and Russia.
The association also pointed out that poor application of scientific and technical advancements in growing cashew trees and processing cashew nuts caused uneven quality of the nuts, noting that as many as 70 per cent of Vietnam’s cashew plantations producing low-quality nuts.
As a result, some foreign customers shifted to buy cashew from India, it said.
Local cashew processing companies, besides, have suffered from rising input costs, pushing export prices of Vietnamese cashew nuts up by 15-20 per cent.
The number of laborers in the cashew industry has also decreased by 20-30 per cent from more than 300,000 in the previous years.
Thus, the industry’s plan to export 120,000 tons of cashew nuts this year is likely not to be fulfilled as this year’s output is down by 100,000 to 250,000 tons as compared with last year.
The country’s target to expand total cashew nut plantation area to 450,000 hectares by 2010 from the current 350,000 hectares will also face huge difficulties as many local farmers have cut down cashew trees and turned into other plants due to huge losses.
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