With the record of more than 4,000 new infections on May 16, 2020. India officially overtakes China to become the largest epidemic region in Asia with a total of 86,000 cases.
Number of infections in India daily - Source: Internet
The rising number of new cases has shown the limited effects of blockade imposed by India on 1.3 billion people since the end of March. During the blockade, Indians were required to stay at home, But the maintenance of community segregation measures is still difficult because many people live in crowded and poor residential areas.
Unlike China, which is the fourth largest consumer of cashew kernel in the world. India is both a cashew growing country, processor and one of the largest markets for cashew kernels in the world. Featuring self-sufficient for supply and demand. The influence of nCoV on India will have a different impact than the rest of the countries. It will directly affect supply chains and consumer markets in India and the World.
A two-month blockade led to a nearly zero capacity for India's raw cashew processing and this blockade almost drove the low-income class (majority of society) out of money. Financing led to a sharp decline in demand. After that, the order of easing the blockade of Prime Minister Modi by allowing the restart of processing of cashew plants with a capacity of 30-50% only has not brought the effect of restoring this billion dollar industry.
The decline in Indian raw cashew production has led to a large decline in demand for raw cashew nuts in Africa. With an annual procesing capacity of about 1.6 million tons, the closure of factories for 2 months plus the subsequent production capacity limit will result in India's raw cashew demand falling by about 400,000 tons by 2020. .
After restarting, India may prioritize domestic raw cashew production and focus on the domestic cashew kernel market, which will reduce its interest in raw cashew supply from Africa in the coming months, resulting in a large volume of raw cashew nuts of Africa becoming redundant and difficult to find buyers.
While India lost its overseas market during the blockade, Vietnam quickly became a destination for global buyers, as evidenced by Vietnam's sharp increase in its exports in 2020.
Huang - Asiafri commodity New
