Cashew production continued to decline in early 2022 due to the weather, according to the latest report of the Cashew Association of Cambodia (CAC).
CAC Country Director Uon Silot told Khmer Times, “We have rarely evaluated the quantity and price because we received information from the world market and weather information and went directly to the plantations in ten target provinces.”
“CAC is an institution that can provide information to farmers, provide technical advice, cultivation, find markets for member farmers and collect data to provide options for investors in this field. In January 2022, we found that the yield of cashew fell 10 percent to 30 percent, and later dropped to 50 percent.”
“So far, the association has found only the Vietnamese market, as 95 percent of total cashew products are exported to Vietnam. The volume of exports to China and India is smaller.
“In the last four months of 2022, Vietnam purchased 506,377 tonnes of cashew nuts from Cambodia worth $767 million, a decrease of 43.47 percent compared to 2021,” he pointed out.
“The challenge of cashew products in the country is that Cambodia does not have its own factory. We do not define any market, and we depend entirely on the Vietnamese market,” he added.
In Lai Huot, owner of Kampong Thom-based Chey Sambor Cashew Nut Processing Handicrafts told Khmer Times that the declining cultivation of cashew products has been due to the weather conditions in early 2022
Chey Sambo has collaborated with four communities in Kampong Thom province, as well as another community in Preah Vihear province. Chey Sambo Cashew Processing Enterprise plans to expand the market to facilitate the sale of fresh cashew nuts to farmers.
“We are accelerating the monthly export of 500 to 1,000 tonnes of cashew nuts to the Japanese market,” she added.
This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
