Can India Become a Leader in Plant-Based Cashew Products?

 India produces close to 0.8 million tonnes of cashew annually. It is the second biggest cashew producer in the world after Ivory Coast. It is also a major exporter of cashew. Out of the total cashew economy in India, which is sized at USD 729 million, around produce worth USD 338 million is exported. However, the flipside is that India’s cashew export is declining. A decade ago, ~ 40% of the global cashew export was led by India. Today it is a modest 10%, with Vietnam becoming a global leader. 

If India wants to capture a larger pie of the global cashew value chain, it needs to take concentrated efforts and make systematic investments. Vietnam has invested heavily in large size automated cashew processing plants with a daily capacity of around 200 tonnes. In contrast some of the biggest plants in India has capacity of 20 million tonnes/ daily. To further its foothold in cashew business, it needs to invest in automation and machineries and deploy large size plants with improved capacity. Similarly, India will need to invest in improved training and better capital access for its cashew entrepreneur. The cost of capital in India is very high (close to 9-10%). 

Meanwhile, India will have to increase its area under cashew cultivation. At present 1.72 million acres of land is under cashew cultivation. Interestingly, it is not sufficient as India has to import cashew from other countries such as Kenya and Tanzania. It is important to increase cashew production by bringing increased land under cultivation.