Vietnam’s cashew industry, which is cash-strapped and understaffed, needs deeper cooperation at home and abroad if it is to survive global competition, industry insiders believe.
Cooperation with major cashew exporters like India and Brazil should be strengthened, said the chairman of the Vietnam Cashew Association, Pham Van Bien.
He said that some foreign players, including the Singaporean foodstuff giant OLAM, have recently entered the cashew market.
"We have to sharpen our competitiveness and draw up effective business and production plans," he said.
Bien warned that haphazard production coupled with insufficient market information and obsolete technology would push businesses to the brink of bankruptcy.
Nguyen Van Chieu, general director of Long An Export Processing Joint Stock Co, said that small companies must ensure product quality for their foreign partners.
Vinacas recently worked with the Cashew Association of India, the world’s leading cashew exporter, on a development strategy to help the Vietnamese industry reach new heights.
The two parties will join the Brazilian Cashew Association to establish the World Cashew Association, which will research the market, improve product quality and provide member companies with updated information and technological know-how.
Domestic cooperation, particularly backing from the State and other institutions, is also needed as many local cashew processors are short of capital to buy modern technology and equipment, Pham Van Cong, president of Nhat Huy Company’s management board, said.
More than 200 cashew firms are facing a severe shortage of capital sources to upgrade technology, since most capital is devoted to re-production and raw material purchases.
Nguyen Thi Tam, deputy general director of the Technological and Commercial Bank of Vietnam (Techcombank), said her bank this year would earmark VND600 billion (USUS$37.5 million) in loans to support the cashew industry in various forms.
Cashew processors also badly need capital to improve working conditions and the living standards of workers to prevent them from moving to foreign-invested companies, Chieu said.
Vietnam, the world’s second largest cashew exporter after India, exports 97 per cent of its cashew output, mostly to the US (37 per cent) and China (32 per cent).
Last year’s revenue from cashew exports was estimated at 110,000 tons, with a total revenue of US$450 million.
In the first two months of 2007, Vietnam expects to export 19,000 tons of cashew nuts worth US$75 million, up 26.4 per cent on year in volume and 24.1 per cent in value. (VNS)
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