Cambodia exported more than 910,000 tonnes of cashew nuts, up by over 340 per cent year-on-year. Hong Menea
Cambodia exported 914,795.72 tonnes of cashew nuts in the first 10 months of 2021, logging a prodigious 343.17 per cent year-on-year leap, with Vietnam buying up the overwhelming majority, according to Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries data.
Vietnam topped the list of importers, buying 906,620 tonnes or 99.106 per cent of the total, followed by Thailand (4,085.40 tonnes), China (3,896.94 tonnes), India (98.60 tonnes), Japan (44.14 tonnes), South Korea (16.88 tonnes), Saudi Arabia (14.51 tonnes), the Netherlands (8.21 tonnes), Bangladesh (seven tonnes), Laos (four tonnes), Switzerland (0.02 tonnes), Togo (0.01 tonnes) and the UAE (0.01 tonnes).
Tbong Khmum provincial Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries director Heng Piseth told The Post on November 4 that the production and price of cashew nuts in the province this year increased slightly compared to 2020.
Most of the nuts are bought by traders to sell to Vietnam, or by domestic firms to process for export, he said.
Tbong Khmum borders the Vietnamese provinces of Tay Ninh and Binh Phuoc.
Piseth noted that cashew nuts are a major crop with a large market in Vietnam every year. “Although there are no actual [provincial] export figures, I’ve seen that cashew nut exports passing through the Tbong Khmum provincial checkpoints this year are definitely higher than last year,” he said.
The area under cashew cultivation in Tbong Khmum this year is similar to 2020, in the range of 7,000-8,000ha, he added.
Tbong Khmum provincial Department of Commerce director Toch Sokhorn said cashew nut exports passing through border checkpoints, especially Trapaing Phlong and Dar, have been better this year than in 2020.
However, he noted that the harvest season ended five or six months ago, and that fewer nuts are being shipped to Vietnam now.
Prices of the nuts too have seen “a slight increase compared to 2020”, to the ballpark of $1,300-1,500 per tonne, he said.
In Lai Huot, owner of the Chey Sambor cashew nut processing plant in southwestern Kampong Thom province’s Kampong Svay district, which has a large market in Japan, affirmed the marginal rise in prices.
The average price of the commodity soared to $1,500 as the harvest season kicked off in March, before cooling down to around $1,250 in May, she said, adding that she currently buys them from farmers somewhere in the vicinity of $1,700 per tonne.
“Cashew nuts have a strong market, and in fact my business is hardly able to produce enough to meet orders now,” she said, adding that her operation has bought more than 250 tonnes of cashew nuts from farmers this year.
Ministry of Commerce spokesman Pen Sovicheat said Cambodian cashew nuts were becoming “another strategic commodity”, after cassava and milled rice.
Seeing the potential offered by cashew nuts, more and more local and foreign investors are turning to the crop, and many are setting up small-scale processing plants for export, he said.
However, he cautioned, cashew nut production also faces challenges such as climate change and the rising prices of pesticides and fertilisers.
