On February 27, the 12th Vietnam International Cashew Conference 2023 kicked off in Ho Chi Minh City.
This is an activity under the National Trade Promotion Program in 2023, organized by the Vietnam Cashew Association (VINACAS) in collaboration with the Trade Promotion Agency (Ministry of Industry and Trade).
A view of the conference.
Attending the conference, there were a large number of experts and enterprises in Vietnam and more than 350 delegates from 40 countries and territories.
At the conference, experts and businesses of Vietnam’s cashew sector together with the community of processors, exporters, and importers together to exchange and discuss a lot of information, analyze, evaluate, and propose solutions to help the cashew sector develop stably and sustainably in the coming time.
Mr. Pham Van Cong, President of VINACAS was speaking at the conference.
According to VINACAS and experts, Vietnam’s cashew exports in 2022 reached 519,782 tons, worth 3.08 billion USD. This result is down 10.3% in volume and 15.1% in value compared to 2021.
High inflation globally has made living costs more expensive and spending on necessities significantly higher. Therefore, the consumption of cashew nuts and other non-essential foods is heavily affected. Cashew nut exports decreased both in volume and value. The increase in interest rates by central banks also makes importers no longer able to buy cashews in large quantities to reserve as before.
It is forecast that in 2023, Vietnam’s cashew sector will continue to face difficulties, slow consumption, and decreased prices. Cashew nut production and supply chain in the world and Vietnam encounter many challenges from the international economic and political situation; fluctuations in the USD/VND exchange rate; reduced consumption, increasing processing costs, etc.
An international delegate was speaking at the conference.
Along with that is the inflation in the main consumption markets of Vietnamese cashew nuts; especially the inventory of cashew nuts in these markets. Most importers of cashew nuts from Europe, the United States, and other countries have no need to buy cashew nuts until the end of the second quarter of 2023.
In this context, VINACAS proposed the Ministry of Industry and Trade build promotion programs, support enterprises to invest in technology and equipment, digital transformation, and upgrade processing facilities following international standards.
At the same time, the Ministry should encourage businesses to find customers, invest in deep processing of cashew products, and diversify export products. VINACAS aims to achieve an export value of about 3.1 billion USD, up 0.6% compared to 2022.
The 12th Vietnam International Cashew Conference 2023 took place until Feb 28./.