Cashew exports walking up to a new peak

KOCHI: Indian cashew exports are inching closer to a new peak of Rs 4,500 crore in the current fiscal. The shipments for the ninemonth period ended December 2013 have shown 16% rise in quantity and as much as 24% increase in value with rupee value falling during the year. India exported 90,244 tonne valued at Rs 3,764 crore in these nine months.

Looking at the earlier trend in the year, the industry was hopeful of achievingRs 5,000-crore export for the year. But the sharp rise in imported raw cashew nut prices from East Africa has thrown a spanner in the works.

Consequently, exporters feel it may surpass last year’s Rs 4,420 crore but could fall short of Rs 5,000 crore. “In volumes, we will cross 1.20 lakh tonne. The last time we did that was two years ago, when the export quantity went up to 1.30 lakh tonne. But the worrying factor is that carryover stock is depleted and the Tanzanian raw cashew nut prices have gone up considerably,” said Hari Krishnan R Nair, a major exporter and former chairman of Cashew Export Promotion Council of India. When the raw nuts were coming from West Africa, the prices were lower. But India had to compete with Vietnam, which purchased large quantity of nuts for processing.

However, Indian exporters were helped by the fact that the domestic production was better. The Indian raw cashew output, which used to range between 6-7 lakh tonne went up to 7.28 lakh tonne in 2012-13.