In 2013, cashew exports brought in a fortune, earning 1.7 billion USD. In the context of economic turmoil, global import demand and consumption of agricultural products generally declined, but export of Vietnamese cashew nuts still achieved steady growth.

Furthermore, cashew industry is accelerating its restructuring, transforming from planting into processing, said the Vietnam Business Forum – a weekly magazine of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, cashew export in 2013 reached 261,000 tonnes, increased 17.9 percent in quantity and 12.0 percent in turnover. Average export price of cashew in 2013 was 6,305 USD per tonne, increased 31.9 percent compared to that in 2012.

In 2013, cashew export turnover was about 1.8 to 1.9 billion USD. Statistics from 2009 to 2013 revealed that, excluding decreasing export in 2012, cashew export as well as cashew price generally reached gradually higher than previous years.

According to statistics, cashew export mostly focuses on American and Canadian markets with total export value of 600 million USD. In Asian markets, Vietnam exports to China about 52,200 tonnes with turnover of 300 million USD.

For Europe, cashew export possesses huge potential. Up to now, Vietnam exports cashew products to 11 markets in this region, in which the amount to the Netherlands reached the peak with 23,400 tonnes and turnover of 160.3 million USD, the UK and Russia maintained following positions with growth in volume of 14.2 percent and 10.0 percent, respectively, compared to that in 2012.

This year, cashew export targets about 2 billion USD. Enterprises in this sector have carefully considered importing African raw materials and processing them to export to all over the world.

Previously, farmers replaced cashew trees with other industrial crops, long-term fruit plants with higher value. This has led to a decrease in cashew areas.

Moreover, cashew growing areas are overstretching,causing difficulties for enterprises to purchase. Under this circumstance, cashew industry takes the lead in restructuring, particularly changing from planting to processing, bringing higher value for cashew products.

According to the calculation of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, ten years ago, enterprises only imported about 20 - 30 percent from abroad, and remaining 70 - 80 percent of that came from domestic raw material, but now they have to import nearly 50 percent of total cashew volume for processing to export.

In the coming time, enterprises will have to collaborate in purchasing raw materials and marketing their products. Furthermore, they need to have a whole picture of processing factories to avoid building up too many factories, resulting in oversupply and creating unhealthy competition in the industry.-VNA