Serious Challenge from Vietnam Increases Crisis in Cashew Industry
11-Nov-2025 03:27 PM
Mangalore. The Indian cashew processing industry is facing numerous challenges and problems, including increasing competition from Vietnam.
Vietnam is the world's leading exporter of processed cashews. However, Vietnamese cashew processors are currently facing severe financial difficulties.
The price of cashew kernels (RCN) is rising rapidly in the international market, while the export price of processed cashew kernels is not increasing commensurately.
As a result, processors' margins have declined significantly, and many Vietnamese processing companies are facing significant financial losses due to negative net worth. Some companies are on the verge of bankruptcy and are at risk of closure.
Although Vietnam's share of the global processed cashew export market remains around 80 percent, its own production is very low, at only about 300,000 tons.
It has to import a significant amount of raw cashews annually from foreign countries, as its total annual processing capacity has risen to 3.5 million tons.
Raw cashews are primarily imported from African countries, but in recent years, several African countries have imposed quantitative controls or restrictions on exports, prioritizing the establishment of new cashew processing units there to meet demand and needs.
These countries are now focusing on increasing exports of processed cashews rather than raw cashews.
As a result, Vietnamese processing units are not receiving adequate supplies of raw cashews, nor is their processing capacity being fully utilized.
The Indian cashew industry is also facing various problems. In the ten months from January to October 2025, India's exports of processed cashew nuts to the European Union declined to 6,898 tonnes, a 14.3 percent drop from 8,050 tonnes shipped in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, processed cashew exports to Côte d'Ivoire increased by 32 percent. The share of Indian cashew exports to the United States is also declining rapidly.