In the last two months, cashew exports from the country have recouped some of the losses in trade with reports of supply shortage in Vietnam firming up the market, traders said. With the US covering from India, exports have increased slightly and so has the unit realisation per kg of exports. Defaults by some Vietnamese exporters have prompted the US turn to India and the bonhomie seems to be extending to March, a senior executive of a multi-national trading house told FE.
Indian cashew exports were trailing in performance in the last FY by over 11% (in value terms) for the first nine months of 2007-08. It has come down to less than 8.5% with India exporting 80,344 tonne of cashews in the month of February. Exports from India suffered during January-August 2007 due to appreciation of the rupee and outbreak of viral fever in the processing centres of Kerala. At one stage, exporters were reluctant to take commitment with the rupee appreciating rapidly and the losses mounting to Rs 15,000-20,000 per container of exports. During April-February 2007-08, India exported 1,03,139 tonne of cashew valued at Rs 2,033.18 crore as against 1,06,975 tonne valued at Rs 2,222.15 crore during the same period of the last FY. The drop in volume for the period over the previous period is just 3.5%. The unit realisation per kg of exports has crept up to
Rs 197.13 for the period April -February as against Rs 192.03 during April-November. Import of raw cashew kernels has also increased substantially during February.