The Vietnam Cashew Association (VINACAS) on October 9 recommended its member companies to tighten control over export cashew so as to guarantee the Vietnamese product’s trademark.

VINACAS told processors to pay special attention to the steps of drying, removing testa, and packaging while carefully examining the quality of raw materials.

The processors were also asked to separately process cashew hailing from different sources to ensure the rate of broken nuts is below 10 percent in line with the 2012 standards of the US’s Association of Food Industries.

During the first nine months of 2014, cashew exports posted a 19.6-percent year-on-year rise in volume to 225,000 tonnes and a 21.8-percent year-on-year surge in value to 1.46 billion USD, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Vietnam has 338 plants processing cashew for export to more than 80 countries and territories worldwide.

The US, China and the Netherlands are Vietnam’s biggest cashew importers.

In 2013, cashew exports brought home 1.8 billion USD.-VNA