Unexpected online seminar on world cashews in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic recently organized by CashewInfo magazine, assessed that Vietnam could enjoy many advantages of Covid-19 raging in India.
The workshop had nearly 200 people mainly from India, cashew growing countries and raw cashew traders. Very few cashew traders attended.
India's cashew industry is in turmoil
The workshop said that India's crops were still normal. However, the isolation and banning of travel in India to limit the spread of Covid-19 has caused certain disturbances and effects on the country's cashew industry as well as that of the world in general.
In the immediate future, India's raw cashew harvest has been delayed, and the processing of cashew kernels has also been delayed.
India's harvest is still normal, but Covid-19 has led to delayed harvesting and processing.
India is the world's largest consumer of cashew nuts. During the epidemic, due to long-term home isolation, the consumption of domestic cashew nuts in India decreased. Accordingly, global cashew kernel consumption in 2020 will be reduced accordingly.
Indian businessmen and scientists attending the seminar said that the Indian economy will need 3-6 months to recover. This will also affect the consumption of the cashew industry in general.
With the current quarantine, global cashew buyers, if in need, will turn to Vietnamese cashew kernels. Therefore, Vietnam will benefit in cashew exports, CashewInfo said.
With raw cashews, many delegates said that prices of raw cashew nuts in West Africa have political factors. Specifically, elections in Ivory Coast will take place this year so the government of this country shows many moves to care about farmers.
They announced they would buy support at good prices for 200,000 tons of raw cashew to stabilize the market and keep prices. Immediately after this information, the price of Ivory Coast has inched up 50-70 USD / ton compared to the previous.
However, traders said that, even with support, the government will have to sell at the market price because the cashew market will still determine the price of raw cashew.
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Experts predict that Vietnam will benefit from buying raw cashew nuts and selling cashews because India has stopped producing and exporting
In general, experts predict that West Africa will have a good harvest this year, but with India being isolated from production, it will affect West Africa's raw cashew consumption. In the immediate future, Vietnam is enjoying the advantage of buying raw cashew nuts and selling cashews because India has stopped producing and exporting.
Responding cautiously to the information above, the Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas) said that Covid-19 will not be able to end soon and will have a negative impact on the economy and global purchasing power. The world cashew industry and in Vietnam will probably face difficulties in this common difficulty.
Domestic cashew industry: Some factories have been closed
Assessing the raw cashew market, Vinacas said that in Vietnam and Cambodia, prices are rising but buyers are few. The situation is similar in Africa when many buyers are looking for raw African cashew nuts to raise prices. However, there are still few traders offering.
Cashew purchasing price has not increased much
For cashew nuts, Vinacas said that domestic prices increased compared to export transaction prices because many small processors had to close factories. In particular, some plants closed due to losses, unable to create a balance between kernel and cashew.
Many family-scale processors have been closed due to the lack of adequate Covid-19 prevention conditions for workers. This also contributes to less domestic supply while some exporters need to fulfill their contracts.
The situation is relatively better in medium or large processors. The mills themselves are also careful in buying raw cashew nuts because they are concerned about the bad cashew situation this year. Only leading processors, with many transitional contracts, are still trying to keep the rawest things possible.
Currently, many buyers in the EU have come and bought W320 cashew nuts for delivery from July to September for only 2.92 USD / kg. Buyers in the US do not have many transactions and even pay less than buyers in the EU. Currently, there are not many sellers for these partners.
Processing cashew kernels
In the Chinese market, cashew transactions remained quiet, exports through border trade were still very slow due to the strict containment of Covid-19. Export by sea is normal but only a few large companies in China can buy this way.
According to Vinacas, because the price of cashews from the Western market did not increase much while the price of raw cashew prices increased, many buyers want to continue to wait or buy a very small amount to cover previous contracts.
There is a high risk if processors are trying to buy raw cashew nuts from Africa while there are no cashew contracts or plans to resell them. Industry experts say that it is better to wait and only buy raw things when you can sell cashews at par.
"Enterprises in the cashew industry need to be very careful, analyze information from many sources as well as base on the actual capabilities of their businesses to make appropriate decisions, avoiding risks and losses," Vinacas recommendation.
Nguyen Vy
Source: Dan Viet Newspaper
