On April 20, the Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas) reported that in just the first 2 months of 2023, domestic enterprises imported more than 10,158 tons of cashew nuts, equivalent to nearly 44,000 tons of raw cashew nuts. This is many times higher than the same period last year.
Facing this situation, Vinacas has asked relevant ministries and agencies to support as well as report to the Government for permission to implement some regulations to create fairness in cashew kernel processing and trading in the international market.
Raw cashew in the domestic market is under great pressure due to low import prices.
Mr. Bach Khanh Nhut, Vice Chairman of Vinacassaid that: According to the data from the General Department of Customs, in 2022, 78,583 tons of cashew kernels were imported into Vietnam, equivalent to nearly 350,000 tons of raw cashew nuts. This amount is greater than the total amount of raw cashew produced by Vietnam in one year.
In addition to asking the Ministry of Industry and Trade, relevant ministries, and agencies for solutions, Vinacas also proposed to negotiate and sign bilateral agreements with another country on an exemption from import and export tax on each other’s goods. Countries can export raw cashew nuts duty-free to Vietnam. But if these countries do not apply the duty-free export of raw cashew nuts, Vietnam will not exempt imported cashew kernels from taxes, at the same time, impose a tax rate of 25% with unshelled cashew nuts and a minimum import price for cashew nuts imported into Vietnam.
Explaining this issue, according to VINACAS, cashew-growing countries in Africa have imposed a high tax rate with raw cashew imports and tax exemption with cashew exports to develop the domestic cashew processing industry. Meanwhile, both raw cashew nuts and cashew kernels imported into Vietnam for processing and export are exempted from tax. Such policies lead to inequalities in trade between the two countries processing enterprises.
Just in the first 2 months of 2023, cashew imports of domestic enterprises are many times higher than the same period last year.
In the first two months of 2023, Vietnam imported more than 10,000 tons of cashew kernels, equivalent to nearly 44,000 tons of raw cashew nuts, many times higher than in the same period.
In addition, VINACAS is concerned that cashew kernel processing enterprises, mainly FDI factories, will gradually block the raw cashew material of Vietnamese factories causing our country’s small and medium-sized factories to go bankrupt, towards dominating the world cashew market./.