Cashew duties not a hard nut to crack

May 17, 2011 | 17:00

(0) user say

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) plans to slash import duties on unshelled cashews from 5 to zero per cent to boost production.

The move would help ensure stable material supply sources to feed export processing and ensure the labourers’ stable employment, according to Vietnam Cashews Association (Vinacas).

Currently, Vietnam needs around 600-000-700,000 tonnes of raw cashews for export processing and more than a half of which must be imported.

Since cashew production output saw a continual decline during the past five years against augmenting cashew processing capacity to meet growing needs, import duty exemption would be introduced step-to-step, according to Vinacas.

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development statistics show that in 2010 Vietnam was home to 319,400 hectares of cashews, down 7,000ha on-year and imported more than 404,000 tonnes of raw cashews at a cost of $400 million, making up over 54 per cent of total cashews volume put into processing.

This year, the cashews sector set to reap $1.4-1.5 billion in total export value, up 32 per cent over 2010. Investments will be injected into turning Central Highlands’ areas, southeastern and south-central coastal regions into Vietnam’s major cashews areas of around 200,000ha.

By Hang Chau

vir.com.vn

What the stars mean:

★ Poor ★ ★ Promising ★★★ Good ★★★★ Very good ★★★★★ Exceptional