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G.K. Nair

KOCHI, July 12

VIETNAM is all set to take the second place in global cashew kernel exports close on the heels after India.

Its cashew export is estimated to rise by 2,000 tonnes touching 40,000 t in 2002 from 38,000 t last year. Of this, about 80 per cent of the commodity is likely to land up in the US and China, according to the Cashew Export Promotion Council (CEPC) sources.

The US had reduced the import duty on cashews to zero per cent late last year and this is expected to boost exports. Also, Vietnam had forayed into newer markets such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Russia in 2001 and these will be targeted this year too. According to international cashew distributors and exporters, Vietnamese cashew exports fully met the food safety and hygiene standards as well as the technical standards of North America, Europe and Japan.

The Vietnamese Government is spending about $1.38 million spread over five years from 2000 to introduce hi-tech cashew strains into production to improve quality and yield. These new strains are fast replacing the old, retrogressive strains. If the present trend is any indication, Vietnam may overtake India in cashew kernels export by the end of the current decade.

According to CEPC sources, the Vietnamese Cashew Association (VNCA) claims that the domestic producers in Vietnam have been able to export cashew priced above Indian nuts and the Vietnamese producers have affirmed their quality in the world market.

Vietnam is also planning to diversify into new products such as roasted cashew and cashew pies, currently ignored in the local market there.

Cashew industry sources here said Vietnam was fast emerging as a major competitor of India in the world cashew market. In order to overcome the challenges many processing and exporting companies had already resorted to modernisation aimed at improving the quality apart from value addition.

One of the major constraints is non-availability of raw cashew nuts from indigenous sources. Less than half of the demand of the processing-exporting industry is available in the country. This has made the industry to depend on imported raw nuts. Production of high quality raw nuts was the need of the hour, said sources.

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