Cashew industry sees unusual trade pattern in early 2023
Tuesday, Apr 04, 2023 09:20
The cashew industry saw an unusual trade pattern in the first two months of 2023 as Viet Nam net-imported nearly US$7 million of the nut.

Trade data shows that Viet Nam purchased 272,000 tonnes of cashew from abroad in January and February, most of which came from Cambodia.

The General Department of Customs (GDC) said this trade deficit is unusual given that the country is an exporter of cashew, having net-exported about $400 million of the nut last year.

It is not the first time that unusual trade patterns hit the sector. In fact, the industry also suffered a trade deficit of around $500 million in 2021, the first deficit in three decades.

The customs authority looked into the deficit and uncovered a number of trade frauds behind the atypicality. Two fraudsters were brought to court and all of their imports were subjected to inspection.

GDC was concerned that the unusual trade pattern in early 2023 may be linked to similar frauds that caused the deficit two years ago.

According to the Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Cashew Association (VINACAS) Bach Khanh Nhut, the boom in cashew imports in the first two months of 2023 could be attributed to the abundant cashew supply in Cambodia where the nut was in season.

The geographical proximity of Cambodia to Viet Nam allows Cambodian traders to incur fewer costs exporting cashew to Viet Nam than to other countries, such as India. This has led to a staggering 99 per cent of Cambodian cashew ending up in its neighbouring country.**

"With a higher profit margin and easier payment options, it is no surprise that most of the Cambodian cashew was exported to Viet Nam," said Nhut.

The deputy chairman believed that the trade deficit in the early months of 2023 was not atypical because Vietnamese traders tend to increase their cashew purchases from Cambodia when the supply is abundant.

Meanwhile, many cashew importers, including Tanzania and Mozambique, have yet to enter into contracts with Vietnamese traders during this time. As such, it is too soon to draw any conclusion about the overall trade pattern for 2023.

Regarding trade fraud, he did not rule out the possibility of cashew smuggling in January and February. He revealed that smugglers may have used vehicles with a loading capacity of fewer than seven tonnes to manoeuver cashew into the country.

However, the extent of the problem remains unclear because Nhut did not have sufficient data to tell how much of the imported cashew was contraband.
— VNS
http://bizhub.vn/news/cashew-industry-s ... 43059.html

** See also:

Vietnam becomes leading market of Cambodia’s cashew nuts
Vietnam was the largest market of Cambodia’s cashew nuts in the first eight months of 2021, according to Thmey Thmey newspaper of Cambodia.
VNA Tuesday, September 07, 2021
Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon said 99 percent of the total cashew exports, or nearly 870,000 tonnes, were exported to Vietnam.

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the Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Cashew Association (VINACAS) Bach Khanh Nhut,

Reminds me I once had a colonoscopy by a consultant called Mr Butt