Indian Cashew Export 2014: Cashew Crop

Cashew, Cashew all the Way

India is one of the leading global producers and exporters of cashew today. In 2013-14, India had approximately 0.97 million hectares under cashew cultivation and produced 120553 MT of cashew nuts and 9480.28 MT CNSL. Cashew kernels and Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL) are exported to more than 60 countries across the world — the US, the Netherlands, Japan, the UK, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Singapore, China and the Middle East are India’s major markets.

Indian Cashew, International Table

The largest importer of Indian cashew kernels is Korea (followed by the USA and China). It is also the largest market for Indian CNSL, with China and Republic of Korea close on its heels. In 2013–14, India exported 3004 metric tonnes of CNSL to the US, generating revenues worth US$ 1.36 million. Export s to China and the Republic of Korea totaled 2703 metric tonnes (worth US$ 1.31 million) and 1,883 metric tonnes (worth US$ 1.86 million), respectively.

Handpicked for Quality

The Indian cashew industry is globally renowned for the quality of its products and retains its superiority in the field due to several factors. The most significant of these are India’s manual/semi-mechanized processing techniques, as opposed to the mechanized processing techniques employed in the West. The use of the latter results in almost 50 per cent loss of the raw product due to damages, as compared to the 20 per cent loss sustained when manual processing techniques are deployed. Moreover, India has made considerable investment in research and development, as well as agricultural expansion, and there exist continual efforts towards producing new varieties, better planting techniques and improving packaging methods.

 

 

A Hard Nut to Crack

• India has a massive land area dedicated towards cashew cultivation (around 0.97 million hectares).
• Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka are the primary producers of cashew along the western coast of the country, while Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are the primary producers along the eastern coast. In addition, cashew is also grown in Goa, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Tripura, Jharkhand, Assam, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• India’s favorable social banking norms have led to a strong financial infrastructure in the industry and thus credit is available through commercial and co-operative banks.
• As India has an abundance of highly-skilled labor, deployment of manual processing techniques is feasible.

 

Cashew Kernel Exports from India (2009-10 to 2013-14)

Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL) Exports from India (2009-10 to 2013-14)

CNSL Exports to Major Markets – 2013-14 (In Terms of US $ Million)