Cashew exports rise in value

Export of cashew kernels during 2008-09 fiscal declined in terms of quantity and increased in terms of value compared with 2007-08. Total shipments in 2008- 09 were at 1,08,131 tonnes valued at Rs 2,950 crore. In terms of volume, it dropped by 5.4 per cent, while in terms of value, it went up by 28.9 per cent, Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPCI) sources told Business Line.

Exports of cashew nut shell liquid stood at 6,986 tonnes valued at Rs 16.79 crore, they said. The increase in export value realisation last fiscal was attributed mainly to the high price that prevailed in the early months of the previous fiscal and also due to appreciation of the Indian rupee against the dollar in the later months, they said. The export value has come down from Rs 267 a kg in February to Rs 262 in March.

The unit value during the first quarter of the last fiscal had touched around Rs 400 a kg. Though there was an increase in the value, it was offset by the high raw nut prices in the last fiscal. The raw cashew price in March was Rs 44.89 a kg as against the average price of Rs 28.83 in 2007- 08. This has made it very difficult for the cashew processor-exporters as they have to operate with very thin margins, the sources said.

Export during March was 8,783 tonnes compared with 11,201 tonnes in March 2008 showing a steep decline of 21.5 per cent. During the first three months of the current year (January-March 2009), the export was 25,210 tonnes (28,029 tonnes) recording a drop of 10 per cent.

The downward trend could be attributed to the current economic recession, which, in the developed countries, the main markets for the cashew kernels, appears to have led to a shift in consumer preference to other tree nuts or a reduction/ stoppage in consumption of cashew kernels, industry sources pointed out. Imported raw nuts Dependence on imported raw nuts continued to remain a perpetual phenomenon as there hasn’t been any proper and consistent efforts to promote the cultivation of this crop in the country, official sources in the Union Ministry of Commerce said.

They said that the proposal to set up a cashew development board aimed at developing cashew cultivation in a scientific manner failed to take off because of the road blocks created by the Union Ministries of Agriculture and Finance.

Source : Business Line