KOCHI: High prices of imported raw nuts have impacted the cashew kernel exports which have slid 28% in volumes and 12% in value for the three months ended June 2016, from a year ago. cashew kernel exports stood at 18,419 tonnes valued at Rs 1026 crore for three months. Though unit value has gone up, the fall in quantity has brought lower revenue for the exporters.
Over 60% of the raw nuts required for processing are imported from African countries. A shortage in the producing countries and increased demand for raw nuts particularly from mushrooming processing units in Africa have raised the prices of raw nuts to a level of $ 1500 to 1600 per tonne level from around $1000-1200 per tonne.
As a result the imports have been steadily coming down. For the three months period till June, there is a drop of 47% from a year ago at 171478 tonnes. The exporters are not getting prices for the cashew kernels proportionate to the increase in raw nut prices in the global market. Most of the cashew processing factories in Kerala have closed down for want of nuts. To prevent the misuse for free import norms by the domestic processors, the government had also imposed a duty of 9.36% a few months ago. In 2015-16, the raw nut imports had soared to a record 9.39 lakh tonnes.
