Illustrative photo
In March, Vietnam imported 439,412 tons of cashew nuts for more than $ 550 million, sharply increased by 228.9% in volume and 219% in value year-on-year, according to preliminary statistics of the General Department of Customs. In the first quarter of 2024, our country imported 663,467 tons of cashew nuts for more than $ 825 million, up by 14.4% in volume and 6.6% in value over the same period last year.
The growth in the first quarter was driven by a strong increase in imported volume from Cambodia, one of Vietnam’s main suppliers in the past years. In March, we imported 386,186 tons of cashew nuts from Cambodia, worth more than $ 488 million, up by 428% in volume and 392% in value compared to the previous month.
In the first quarter, our country imported 426,366 tons of cashew nuts from the neighbor for $ 593 million, up 456% in volume and 470% in value compared to the first quarter of 2023. In March, the import price reached $ 1,266 per ton, the lowest since mid-2023.
Besides Cambodia, we also import cashew nuts from other markets such as Ivory Coast, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria and Tanzania. In 2023, we imported 644,191 tons of cashew nuts from the neighbor for $ 836 million, down by 9% in volume and 23% in value compared to 2022. It can be seen that the import volume in just 1 month is equal to half of the total import volume of 2023.
On the export side, our country earned more than $ 808 million from exporting 150,683 tons of cashew nuts, up by 35.4% in volume and 24.6% in value. Cashew is a key commodity, bringing billions of dollars to Vietnam each year. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, in 2018, Vietnam produced approximately 2.66 million tons of cashew nuts, up by 23% compared to 2017. This figure is 3.4 times higher than India, the second largest producer globally with an output of 790,000 tons, making Vietnam the world’s leading cashew nut exporter. However, Vietnam has to rely heavily on importing raw cashew nuts from many suppliers worldwide.
According to Cambodia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, this country has 435,733 hectares of cashew trees. Of which, 330,861 hectares have yielded 508,283 tons by 2022. Also in 2022, Cambodia exported 471,520 tons of raw cashew nuts and 1,557 tons of cashew nuts and earned more than $ 1.07 billion. Of which, up to 98.5% of Cambodia’s cashew exports were sold to Vietnam.
Cambodia has delicious and good quality cashew nuts, but they lack the technology to process cashew nuts into products that meet the standards and are accepted by the international market.
