Cashew exports fall 25 per cent in six months.

KOCHI: Cashew kernel exports continue fall in the current year due to high price of raw nuts and its dwindling availability.

Cashew exports fell 25 per cent to 36895 tonnes valued at Rs 2138 crore for six months to September 30, 2016, from a year ago. The drop in value was 13 per cent, as per the data of The Cashew Export Promotion Council of India.

Right from the beginning of the current fiscal, the cashew exports have been going down.

"The raw cashew prices have escalated 50per cent over previous year to $2400 per tonne with Vietnam buying aggressively to feed its rapidly expanding cashew processing industry. As a result, there is a global shortage of raw nuts,’’ said K Prakash Rao, managing partner of Kalbavi Cashews.

The raw nut imports by India slumped by as much as 31 per cent to 500329 tonnes for six months . At present Tanzania is the chief supplier of raw cashew nuts as the season is over in west African countries like Ghana and Ivory Coast.

With shrinking supply of raw nuts, many factories have closed operations. The retail prices of cashew nuts in the domestic market have soared to Rs 1000 per kg, up by 40per cent over last year.

In 2015-16, India exported 94,150 tonnes valued at Rs 4850 crore. This was 21 per cent lower in quantity and 11 per cent in value over the previous year.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com