West African cashew faces increasing competition from Vietnam, Cambodia

Cashew has been an important export crop in West Africa but the region's industry is facing many problems. Low international prices have caused some governments to set floor prices to protect farmers, which has instead chased away traders to other growing regions in what is a buyers market.

Most African cashew is exported raw, giving producers even less control over prices. There are now fledgling efforts in the region to process more of its cashew, but they are coming when there is increasing competition from other parts of the world.

An example is Vietnam's burgeoning cashew production. The Vietnam Cashew Association has said the country's production will increase by 12.5 percent in 2007. The organisation estimates producers will harvest 350,000 tonnes of cashew nuts in 2007, with an additional 50,000 tonnes imported from Cambodia to meet processors' needs.

Pham Van Cong, deputy head of the association, said processing companies will not face a shortage of cashews because producers are yielding more of the crop than ever. However, low export prices and large processing costs could affect the industry negatively, said Cong.

Viet Nam’s cashews meet the World Trade Organisation’s safety regulations, but cost more than cashews from other countries, said another official of the association. But Ho Van Huu, chairman of Cashew Association of Binh Phuoc Province said the price is higher because the quality of the nuts is better than in previous years.

Market experts predict that Viet Nam will export 140,000 tonnes of cashews in 2007, a year-on-year increase of 10 per cent.

source : talknuts.blogspot.com