Cashew kernel exports from the country have declined 5.4 per cent to 108,131 tonnes for the year ended March 2009 compared to the previous year.
In value terms, however, the exports have gone up by 29 per cent to Rs 2,950 crore compared to the last year, the highest ever performance by the commodity.
The rise in value was mainly due to a 36 per cent rise in the unit value realisation at Rs 272.8 per kg, as a result of the appreciation of dollar against the rupee in international market. However, the industry suffered a temporary setback in the last quarter of the financial year as many buyers in Europe and the US moved their shipments to the first quarter of the current financial year.
The cashewnut processing industry, which is mainly dependent on the import of raw cashew nut to meet requirements, imported 605,654 tonnes of raw nuts during the year. In value terms, the imports were up 50.6 per cent to Rs 2,631.78 crore compared to the last financial year. The unit value of imported nuts went up by 50.7 per cent to Rs 43.45 per kg compared to the last year.
In the international market, the prices of cashew kernel (W320 grade) had hit an all-time high of $3.65 a pound in August 2008, compared to $2.15 a pound in September 2007, a rise of 69.7 per cent.
The cashew processing industry has been witnessing an unprecedented sales growth in the domestic market due to steadily rising consumption. The size of domestic consumption is pegged at around Rs 3,200 crore and the unit prices hit an all-time high of Rs 350-400 a kg in the wholesale market, while the retail prices are ruling at over Rs 550 a kg.
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Walter D’Souza, former chairman, Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPCI), said, “The year 2008 was fairly good for us. In the first seven months of the fiscal, there was a good growth. But for the global meltdown, which showed its impact for us in the second half of the year, we would have registered around 5-10 per cent growth even in volume terms. However, we did well in the domestic market, where the consumption grew by around 10-12 per cent and the industry sold around 135,000 tonnes.”
The export of cashew nut shell liquid, which is a major raw material in various industrial applications, declined by 10.7 per cent to 6,976 tonnes. In value terms, however, the exports went up by 40.1 per cent to Rs 16.7 crore compared to last year.