Vietnam's cashew exports to the EU increased sharply in 2021

Vietnam's cashew exports to the EU increased sharply in 2021

In 2021, Vietnam's cashew industry had negatively been affected by a shortage of workers and high sea freight costs, but still recorded positive growth.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the EU is currently Vietnam's second largest cashew nut export market, accounting for 23% of the total volume and 22% of the total value of the industry. Therefore, the growth of cashew nut exports to the EU contributes significantly to the overall growth of the industry.

The tax rate for cashew nut processing products imported into the EU from Vietnam will be reduced to 0% immediately after the EVFTA comes into effect from August 1, 2020. This reduction is very important because before the EVFTA took effect, the tariff on cashew nuts imported into the EU from Vietnam ranged from 7 to 12%. The implementation of the EVFTA in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and complicated market fluctuations is expected to bring great opportunities.

According to estimates, Vietnam's cashew exports in 2021 to the EU market will reach 135 thousand tons, worth  USD 816 million, an increase of 16.5% in volume and 7.9% in value compared to 2020. The above positive growth is due to the EU's demand for cashew nuts in the last month of the year reaching a high level according to the cyclical factor, to serve the Christmas holiday and welcome the new year.

In terms of market structure, Vietnam's cashew industry currently exports to 23 EU member markets. In particular, the cashew industry has well taken advantages of the Dutch and German markets. Besides, Vietnam's cashew industry has also well taken advantages of other EU member markets such as France, Spain and Poland. These are all good markets for cashew nuts. Notably, cashew nut exports to the Finnish market increased by 625.7% in volume and 629.6% in value. Thus, Vietnam's cashew industry has been quite successful when taking advantage of gateway markets such as the Netherlands and Germany, and at the same time, Vietnamese enterprises have well exploited other markets in the EU such as Finland, Poland, Belgium, Spain, Romania, and Portugal.

With the results achieved in 2021, Vietnam's cashew nut exports to the EU had a quite successful year in the context of complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, difficulties in production, customs clearance and freight rate increase. Export prospects in 2022 are expected to increase by about 15% in volume and 10% in value compared to 2021, reaching over 155,000 tons, worth USD 900 million. Based on supply and demand factors, export prices tend to recover from the end of 2021.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam is the largest source of cashew nuts for the EU. Vietnam's cashew nut market share in total EU imports from the external markets increased from 73.4% in 9 months of 2020 to 77.3% in 9 months of 2021. In contrast, the EU reduced cashew imports from India, a decrease of 34.7% in volume and 40.2% in value, reaching 8.65 thousand tons, worth EUR 58.93 million. India's share of cashew nuts in the EU's total imports from foreign markets decreased from 11.5% in the first 9 months of 2020 to 7.4% in the first 9 months of 2021.