Council to boost cashew production

The Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPCI) has chalked out a Vision 2020 document to increase the domestic production of raw cashew to 1.9 million tonnes by 2020.

Addressing the annual general meeting of the council on Wednesday, Walter D'Souza, chairman of the council, urged the Directorate of Cashewnut and Cocoa Development to implement the action plan to increase the productivity of cashew to match that of Vietnam.

Vietnam's per hectare productivity is 2000 kg as against 815 kg of India. According to the estimates of the directorate, India witnessed a slight improvement in the production of raw cashew during 2006-07, as total production increased to 620,000 tonnes compared with 573,000 tonnes in 2005-06.

The domestic cashew processing industry has a total capacity to process an estimated 12 lakh tonnes per annum, pointing to the wide gap between demand and domestic supply. It also calls for increasing the domestic production of raw cashew for achieving self sufficiency and ensuring maximum capacity utilisation by 2020.

The processing industry was highly dependant on imported raw cashew, reducing India's clout in the global market of cashew kernels, he added.

During 2006-07, the country imported 586,044 tonnes of raw cashew valued at Rs 1,811.62 crore against an import of 565,400 tonnes valued at Rs 2162.95 crore in the preceding financial year.

While imports saw a growth of 3.65 per cent in quantity, it dropped 16.24 per cent in value terms as the average import price dropped to Rs 30.91 per kg from Rs 38.26 in 2005-06.

D'Souza also said that the council had submitted various schemes to support the sector in the 11th Five Year Plan, including those for enhancing the quality of cashewnuts, upgrading and modernising processing units, improving packaging and providing facilities for value addition.

The council has also initiated schemes to implement internationally-accepted quality certifications such as ISO, HACCP and Organic.

India's cashew kernel exports increased by 3.85 per cent in 2006-07 to 118,540 tonnes valued at Rs 2,455.15 crore, as against 114,143 tonnes valued at Rs 2,514.86 crore for the previous year. In value terms, exports dropped by 2.37 per cent in the last financial year.

The US continued to be the major buyer, importing 46,245 tonnes valued at Rs 969.51 crore followed by the Netherlands with 19,360 tonnes valued at Rs 385.07 crore.

During the 2007-08 April-September period, exports touched 57,157 tonnes, down by 2 per cent, valued at Rs 1,097.06 crore.

In value terms, exports dropped by 10 per cent compared with 1,222.93 crore for the same period last year. The unit value realisation of cashew also dropped by 9 per cent at Rs 191.94 per kg as against Rs 210.09 for the same period last year.

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India witnessed a slight improvement in the production of raw cashew during 2006-07, as total production increased to 620,000 tonnes compared with 573,000 tonnes in 2005-06

Domestic cashew processing industry has a total capacity to process an estimated 12 lakh tonnes per annum

In 2006-07, the country imported 586,044 tonnes of raw cashew compared with 565,400 tonnes in the preceding year