Cashew nut exports up 17% in first half of 2018

Vietnam exported around 33,000 tons of cashew nuts worth US$300 million in June, bringing the total volume of shipments during the first half of this year to 176,000 tons, valued at US$1.41 billion, up 17% in both volume and value, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

The US, the Netherlands and China remained the three largest importers of Vietnamese cashew nuts with market shares of 37.9%, 13.1% and 10.9%, respectively.

In the opposite direction, Vietnam imported around 151,540 tons of raw cashew nuts worth US$304.4 million in June, bringing the total amount of imports in six months to US$1.14 billion, down 13% over the same period of last year.

This month’s price of cashew nuts in the world market was quite stable as there were no fluctuations in demand. The average export price of Vietnamese cashew nuts reached US$9,068 per ton in June, down 3.6% compared to May.

The MARD’s Agro Processing and Market Development Authority (AgroTrade) forecast that export markets will be favourable in the coming time as importers accelerate their purchases to serve increasing year-end demands.

In the context of the downward trend in the price of cashew nuts, the Authority also advised domestic businesses to reduce processing capacity, link with farmers to develop high quality material zones and focus on intensive processing to improve the value of products.