Despite strong export growth and a $1.15 billion revenue increase, Vietnam remains the largest market for exporting raw cashew nuts; this is due to challenges in domestic processing and infrastructure, particularly drying fields, that can hinder Cambodia’s potential to become a global leader in the cashew industry.

In 2024, Cambodia exported 850,000 tonnes of raw cashew nuts, representing a 26.8 percent increase compared to the previous year. More than 810,000 tonnes were sold in overseas markets, generating revenue of $1.15 billion, which reflects a 31 percent increase from the $837 million earned in 2023, according to the Cashew Nuts Association of Cambodia (CAC).

Suy Kokthean, Vice President of CAC, told Kiripost that Vietnam is the largest raw cashew nuts market, with 90 percent of Cambodia’s cashew nuts exported there, followed by India and China.

“Due to our farmers preferring to sell raw cashew nuts, only Vietnam, which has big processing factories, dry up the cashew nuts.”

However, Kokthean emphasised that the number of exports is deemed to increase, despite “Cambodia’s loss of additional values and job opportunities” in the cashew nut processing chain. He added that, although challenging, the government has been working to address the gap in factory processing.

“In the future, we will have factories processing cashew nuts in Kampong Thom province. It will allow Cambodia to extract a huge benefit of deprocessing to process in the country.”

Cambodia has recently emerged on the international market as the second-largest producer of cashew nuts. To capitalize on this status, the country needs significant improvements, particularly in infrastructure, such as drying fields, Kokthean stressed.

The government should consider providing funding to support small and medium enterprises by facilitating easier access to banks. This would enable these businesses to engage in exporting more effectively.

Additionally, to encourage farmers to grow more cashews, the government should consider lowering the price of fertilizer, which is a primary concern for farmers, as well as ensuring quality inspections. Implementing these measures will help the cashew nut supply chain in Cambodia grow sustainably in the future.

Im Rachna, spokesperson at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, previously acknowledged that the limited domestic processing capacity makes Cambodia lose added value.

Currently, there are 42 cashew nut processing factories in Cambodia. These factories can only process about 10 percent of the cashew nuts produced in Cambodia. This is because most of the processing facilities are small-scale and family-based.

As a result, the government has issued a National Cashew Nut Policy for 2022–2027 to assist cashew nut farmers with technical issues, provide loans in emergencies and address finding markets for farmers. The policy also supports the establishment of modern farmer communities.

Read the whole story Cashew Nut Exports Surge to 850,000 Tonnes in 2024 | Kiripost