The Hindu : Kerala / Kollam News : Indian cashew riding high in the U.S.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 15, 2005

Kerala

Kerala - Kollam

Indian cashew riding high in the U.S.

Ignatius Pereira

66 % of U.S. imports during 2004-05 from India

KOLLAM: In spite of tough competition from Brazil and Vietnam in the international cashew kernel market, the prospects of Indian cashew remain bright in the United States, and the countries of the European Union and the Gulf. Also, new markets are emerging in China, Pakistan and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

During 2004-05, 1.16 lakh tonnes of kernel was exported. This was a record, and accounted for foreign exchange earnings of Rs.2,700 crores. Despite the competition, 66 per cent of all U.S. cashew imports during the year were from India. The rest was shared between Brazil and Vietnam.

According to cashew industry sources, the U.S. imported 52.6 lakh cartons of cashew from India last year. (Each carton weighs 22.6 kg.) This year the figures are expected to climb up further. As much as 99 per cent of the cashew imports by the Gulf countries were from India: the United Arab Emirates alone imported 15 lakh cartons. The Gulf market for Indian cashew is growing at the rate of 40 per cent a year. E.U. countries imported about 10 lakh cartons.

One of the main reasons for Indian cashew remaining steady in the export market is its quality backed by the taste factor. The taste is achieved through the traditional drum roasting processing technique. In drum roasting, as the shell oil gets burnt away, the kernel gets roasted to the right degree. The other exporting countries depend on steam bath processing by boiling raw nuts in the oil extracted from cashew shell. In steam bath processing, the kernel produces a slightly bitter taste. The Indian cashew industry is over 80 years old and the relationship between India cashew and the U.S. and European markets is as old as that. The competitors are later entrants. Also, Indian cashew has been classified as purely organic. The recent development in which four containers of kernel despatched from Kollam were auctioned at the New York port by the U.S. Government has been largely seen as an isolated incident. The consignment was auctioned since no one had claimed it during the stipulated period of 14 days. The development does not have any adverse impact on the prospects of the Indian cashew in the U.S. market, informed sources point out. Issues relating to the quality of kernels are not the reason behind the containers remaining unclaimed.

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