Raw material shortage to result in halted production

Many cashew nut processing facilities are facing the risk of being halted their operations due to a serious shortage of raw cashew nuts in the first quarter of this year.

The Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas) reported that local businesses shipped 74,590 tons of cashew nuts in the first quarter of this year to get US$758.067 million with an average price of US$10,173 per ton. Exports increased 33.8% in volume and 46.69% in value compared to the same period last year. However, the sector is in the serious shortage of raw cashew nuts for processing.

Early this year, the sector expected a bumper crop with an output of around 400,000-500,000 tons. However unfavourable weather and limited care of cashew growers have made the 2017-2018 crop fail on a large scale.

Meanwhile the quality of import raw cashew nuts also decreased, badly affecting the nut volume.

This year, the sector is expected to get 300,000 tons of raw cashew from local growers, import about 1 million tons and export around 270,000 tons of processed cashew nuts.