Cashew market update, November 2022

Mundus Agri. After Cambodia had massively reduced its acreage not even ten years ago due to various difficulties, the situation has turned around with Vietnam's help. Vietnam itself is also benefiting greatly from this situation.

Proximity offers advantages

In 2017, the Vietnamese business delegation led by Nguyen Duc Thanh, then chairman of the Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas), first announced its intention to promote trade with Cambodia massively. Looking back, Nguyen told Vinacas: "As recently as 2014, Cambodia sold only about 30% of its cashew nut production to Vietnam. Although the quality was relatively good, the production of Cambodian cashews was not high then, so the main suppliers of raw cashew nuts for Vietnamese buyers were still African countries. However, Vietnamese companies face a big risk in terms of transactions and transport distance from Africa to Vietnam. Our orientation at the time was to source raw cashew nuts more from Cambodia, which was close to the border and easier to pay."

Significant progress in Cambodia

At the time, the Cambodian cultivated area was around 300,000 ha, but due to unstable commodity prices and poor organization, it was reduced to only about 100,000 mt. Cambodian growers were given support in variety selection, cultivation techniques, harvesting, and preservation so that profits increased for the participating farmers. Through the joint efforts of both countries, the goal of cultivating an area of 1 million ha was soon achieved. This is also impressive: As expert reports in reference to the customs office, 1 million mt of RCN have already been exported from Cambodia to Vietnam in 2021. If this course is maintained, Cambodia could soon surpass Côte d'Ivoire as the largest producer of RCN and become the world's most important supplier, according to Vinacas.