Cambodia exports 50 percent more raw cashew nuts in first semester
Cambodia exports 50 percent more raw cashew nuts in first semester
Cambodia exported more than 545,000 tonnes of raw cashew nut in the first semester of 2024, an increase of 50 percent compared to the same period in 2023, said a report of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) on Wednesday.
The report stated that the export of raw cashew nut (RCN) in the half of 2024 was more than 545,340 tonnes, an increase of 50.44 percent compared to the same period last year with 362,491.09 tonnes.
The export of processed cashew nut was 87.90 tonnes, a fall of 87 percent compared to the same period last year which was 682 tonnes.
It should be noted that agricultural products that have contributed to the growth of exports include rice, fresh cassava, cassava flour, cashew nuts, corn, fresh lentils, fresh mangoes and pepper.
According to the MAFF, the countries that have ordered more agricultural products include Vietnam (rice, fresh cassava, cashew nuts, fresh mangoes and pepper), Thailand (fresh cassava and fresh mango), China (Cassava flour, fresh longan and fresh mangoes) and Korea (fresh mangoes).
Im Rachna, a spokeswoman for MAFF, told Khmer Times yesterday that the largest market for Cambodian raw cashew nut is still Vietnam, but exports have fallen slightly after domestic processing increased after domestic processing increased.
“A few years ago, almost 99 percent of our raw cashew nuts were exported to foreign markets, especially in Vietnam, but so far, exports of raw cashew nuts to foreign markets, not just Vietnam, have dropped to 90 percent,” said Rachna.
“We see an increase in domestic processing, which is what the Ministry of Agriculture is committed to doing, and the Ministry will try to expand, want to invest in processing raw cashew nuts into finished product and export to abroad.”
Rachna said that investing in this processing is important to increase the value and provide additional benefits to farmers on the cultivation and the image of Cambodian products on the international stage.
Currently, MAFF is pushing for the establishment of a modern cashew community in Kampong Thom province by preparing a structure for them, so that they have clear control to connect to the market.
She continued that on the other hand, in relation to cultivation, the Ministry will provide technical support and capital, if necessary, to ensure that farmers have the ability to properly manage, harvest and store for supply to enterprises that need cashew nuts for processing.
“These are things that the Ministry of Agriculture is trying to do and we will do. The Ministry has repeatedly said that what we said, we must do it,” Rachna said.
“We see that in the past, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) paid high attention to the cashew crop and considered it as a priority crop for both MAFF and RGC because we have a National Cashew Policy, which is the ambition of Samdech Techo Hun Sen, the former Prime Minister, who wants Cambodia to become the Cashew Emperor in the future.”
She said that this is the long-term vision of the Cambodian leadership from the previous mandate to this mandate, and the ministry will strive to achieve this vision.
Uon Silot, Country Director of the Cashew Nut Association of Cambodia (CAC), told Khmer Times on Wednesday that CAC is collecting the data in June and it will be issued in mid-July.
According to Silot, this year CAC expects that the cashew production, RCN, would reach 850,000 tonnes while 750 000 tonnes of RCN export and generates over $1 billion while the production could be felt down 30 percent globally.
According to the Cashew Nut Association of Cambodia’s report, Cambodia exported $837 million worth of raw cashew nuts in 2023, a year-on-year decrease of 16.9 percent,
The report said the Southeast Asian country exported a total of 656,000 tonnes of the commodity in 2023, representing a year-on-year drop of 7.6 percent in volume.
Some 618,000 tonnes, or 94.2 percent of the commodity, were shipped to neighbouring Vietnam, it said.
It should be noted that, in the first five months of 2024, Cambodia exported more than 6.13 million tonnes of agricultural products, an increase of 57 percent compared to the same period in 2023, earning more than $2.8 billion.
The exports of agricultural products in the first half of this year increased by more than 2.23 million tonnes. During the same period in 2023, Cambodia exported only 3.9 million tonnes of agricultural products, earning $2.4 billion.
