Data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs shows that Vietnam imported nearly 1.5 million tonnes of cashew nuts in the first six months of this year, worth US$1.8 billion, an increase of 8.4% in volume and 3.4% in value.
Of which, over 780,700 tonnes of cashew nuts from Cambodia were imported into Vietnam, worth up to US$1 billion. Cashew imports from the Cambodian market alone increased by 36.7% in volume and 28.1% in value compared to the same period last year.
Vietnam is the world's number one cashew kernel exporter. However, the country's domestic supply of raw materials for processing is still limited so businesses have to import cashew nuts in large quantities.
In addition to Cambodia, businesses also import a large amount of cashew nuts from Africa. However, the situation of importing poor quality cashews to impersonate domestic cashew brands is increasingly common, which reflects badly on the Vietnamese cashew brand.
In terms of exports, Vietnam exported 353,500 tonnes of nuts in the first six months of this year, worth US$1.94 billion, up 26.2% in volume and 18.7% in value year-on-year.
Vietnam's average cashew export price reached US$5,502 per tonne in the first six months, down 6.4% over the same period last year.
