G.K. Nair

Kochi , June 15

EVEN as cashew kernel export has increased in recent months, the industry's dependence on imported raw nuts has gone up substantially, with indigenous production failing to keep pace with the growing demand for the raw material.

Export in April went up 1,508 tonnes to 10,069 tonnes, valued at Rs 226.14 crore from 8,561 tonnes worth Rs 153.94 crore in April 2004.

In 2004-05, cashew kernel export touched a record of Rs 2,709.24 crore by exporting 1,26,667 tonnes, against 1,00,828 tonnes at Rs 1,804.43 crore in 2003-04.

According to market sources, cashew kernel exports are estimated at around 2.3 lakh tonnes a year, with a projected annual growth of 5-8 per cent over the next five years.

India has a major share of the world market with around 60 per cent.

However, import of raw nuts by the industry was the highest with 5,78,884 tonnes at Rs 2,183.26 crore in 2004-05(4,52,398 tonnes, worth Rs 1,400.93 crore). Thus, the import went up 1,26,486 tonnes in volume and Rs 782.33 crore in value terms. In fact, India is said to be the top importer of raw cashew nuts in the world.

According to experts, at a 4-per cent recovery rate, around 1.44 lakh tonnes of cashew kernels can be produced from the imported raw nuts. This shows the processing industry was fully dependent on imported raw material for its exports, they said.

This gives the impression that, given the growing demand for tree nut in the domestic market, the entire indigenous production of raw nuts is absorbed by processors catering to internal demand. It is possible as there are several processors in the country in the unorganised sector, exclusively catering to the internal market, the experts said.

Indigenous production of raw nuts has failed to pick up as expected by the industry. The production target for the current plan period is 7 lakh tonnes. But given the slow trend, it may not achieve the target, an official source said.

One of the reasons pointed out for the slow pace in production is the existence of thousands of hectares of senile plantations in States such as Kerala. Another reason is the policy changes on implementation of the programmes.

According to official estimates, the production of raw cashewnuts in the country during the last fiscal was around 5.5 lakh tonnes. In 2003-04, it was 5.35 lakh tonnes, against 5.06 lakh tonnes in 2002-03 and 4.7 lakh tonnes in 2001-02.

While the requirement of the industry is more than 10 lakh tonnes, the availability from internal sources is about half of that. In spite of all efforts, the industry could not find adequate raw cashew nuts to meet its requirements in full, forcing units to remain closed either round the year or for a considerable part of the year, according to Mr P. Bharathan Pillai, Chairman, Cashew Export Promotion Council of India.

"Thus, there is a need to increase the indigenous production of raw cashew nuts to make the country self-sufficient," he said.

Vietnam has already overtaken India in production, cornering 28 per cent of the world's share. The Indian share is 25 per cent followed by Nigeria (10 per cent), Brazil (8 per cent), Tanzania (6 per cent), Indonesia (4 per cent), Guinea Bissau (4 per cent), Cote D'Ivorie (4 per cent), Mozambique (3 per cent) and Benin (2 per cent).

The world production, which has more than doubled since 1994, is over 19 lakh tonnes.

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