VINACAS President Nguyen Duc Thanh announced the information at the association’s seminar in HCM City on December 7, to seek ways to support the foreign trade of cashew nuts between 2018 and 2019.
Addressing the event, Thanh said that Vietnam remains the world’s largest exporter of cashew nuts and has seen robust growth in the cashew nut processing industry in recent years.
However, the domestic supply of cashew nuts has only satisfied about 20-35% of the firms’ demand for materials, while imports of cashew nuts face risks from quality control and payments, he noted.
Cambodia is able to produce high-quality cashew nuts thanks to good varieties and favourable weather conditions, Thanh stated, adding that the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and some local growers are proposing to cooperate with the VINACAS to build a “one-million-tonne” cashew growing plantation, on an area of 500,000 hectares in Cambodia, in the near future.
VINACAS guaranteed to purchase all of the cashew nuts to be harvested on the area and will closely coordinate with Cambodia to turn the plan into reality, he vowed.
Director-general of the Cambodian General Department of Agriculture Hean Vanhorn said that Cambodia looks forward to Vietnam’s support in cultivating and harvesting techniques and quarantine technologies to ensure the cashew nut productivity and quality.
VINACAS decided to provide Cambodia with VND 1.5 billion in financial support for the development of the plan from 2018-2022.
Cambodia is currently Vietnam’s fifth biggest supplier of raw cashew nuts and if the plan works effectively, it will become the world’s largest raw cashew nut producer in the future.
