According to Vinacas, the high cashew price in Binh Phuoc and Dong Nai, two provinces with large cashew areas, results from drought.
According to Vinacas, the high cashew price in Binh Phuoc and Dong Nai, two provinces with large cashew areas, results from drought. Speculators have chased up the price to buy a large volume of cashew in the hope of pushing up the price to VND40,000 per kilogram.
Small cashew processors are purchasing more cashew now, pushing the price up after a short time. Meanwhile, big enterprises do not buy cashew locally but import it from Africa at a price of US$850-950 per ton, or VND18,000-20,000 per kilogram.
Nguyen Duc Thanh, chairman of Vinacas, said that with the current export price of nearly US$8,000 a ton, enterprises buying local cashew for export would suffer a loss of around US$330 per ton while they would earn a profit of US$180 per ton if using imported cashew.
According to Thanh, Vietnam may have a poor cashew crop, but other cashew exporting markets such as India, Nigeria and Brazil achieve higher yields. Therefore, the low cashew volume in Vietnam will not affect the global supply.
Vietnam currently ranks fourth in the raw cashew production volume but has ranked first in cashew nut export volume since 2006. Statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development showed that Vietnam exported 223,000 tons with a total value of US$1.48 billion last year.
Apart from the cashew price, the coffee price has also risen over the past days to VND44,400-44,600 a kilo in the Central Highlands. This is the highest price since September, 2011.
The coffee price, according to the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa), rises due to drought in the region, and the country’s coffee production can drop by 30% if not sufficiently watered.
Besides, Vietnam is the biggest Robusta coffee exporter, and thus information about the drought can push up the market price.
However, the pepper price currently stays at VND120,000 per kilogram, down VND5,000 from the same period last year. It is because Vietnam’s pepper export in the year’s first two months rose by 106% with over 20,000 tons, and importers have imported sufficient amounts.
According to the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA), the pepper price decline is just a short-term fluctuation, and the price will go up in the long term.
(Source: SGT)
