After showing steady improvement in the last few months, cashew exports declined by over 7 per cent to 7,802 tonnes in April even as the slow pace of global recovery and the Eurozone debt crisis caused a dip in demand.
Cashew kernel exports for April 2009 stood at 8,425 tonnes, according to data provided by the Cashew Export Promotion Council (CEPC). In terms of value, there was a decline of over 6 per cent in shipments to Rs 209.74 crore, against Rs 223.49 crore in April 2009.
Exports declined following the Eurozone debt crisis, which began with the financial mess in Greece. Even the economic recovery is not happening as fast as was expected earlier," CEPC secretary Sashi Varma said.
He said that shipments had also dipped due to lack of incentives given by the government to exporters, following weakening of the US dollar. "We have been requesting the government to include cashew under the Vishesh Krishi Upaj Yojana, which had been announced in the Foreign Trade Policy 2004-09 to promote exports," he said.
Indian processed cashew nuts are shipped to the US, Middle-East and Europe. However, cumulative exports from January to April showed a marginal improvement. The shipments, in terms of volume during the first four months, stood at 33,870 tonnes against 33,869 tonnes in the same period last year.
Similarly, in terms of value, it rose slightly to Rs 918.80 crore, against Rs 895.46 crore during the corresponding period last year. Meanwhile, import of raw cashew nuts showed a decline of over 45 per cent to 21,907 tonnes in April, from 39,992 tonnes in the same month last year.
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In terms of value, shipments declined by 40 per cent to Rs 92.91 crore against Rs 154.28 crore in the same month last year. However, cumulative imports of raw cashew from January to April rose by over 5 per cent to 1.37 lakh tonnes, compared to 1.30 lakh tonnes in the same period last year.
In terms of value, it went up by 18 per cent to Rs 680.37 crore, against Rs 577.72 crore in the corresponding period last year.