<p></p><p>Indians are consuming more nuts, especially high-value cashew and almonds. Increase in affordability driven by rise in disposable incomes, coupled with awareness of nutritional benefits, is driving the consumption. Such a trend is reflected in the increased imports of raw cashew nuts and almonds into the country. In the past three years, imports of almonds have grown 36 per cent, while raw cashew shipments into the country have risen by 7 per cent in volumes. India imported about 8.09 lakh tons (lt) of raw cashew nuts valued at ` 5,337.76 crore in 2011-12. This is up from 5.29 lt in 2010-11 and 7.55 lt in 2009-10. This information was provided by Minister of State for Commerce D. Purandeswari to Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The major source of raw cashew nut imports were Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau, Benin, Ghana, Tanzania, Indonesia, Gambia, Guinea, Mozambique and Senegal.</p> <p>Domestic output</p> <p>“Imports are necessary to meet the processing requirement as domestic production is inadequate,” said K. Sasi Verma, Executive Director and Secretary, Cashew Export Promotion Council. The country’s current cashew processing capacity stands at 15 lt, up from 13 lt two years ago. However, the domestic cashew nut output is pegged at about seven lakh tons. The shortfall in processing requirement is met mainly through imports, Verma said. From about 100 kg of raw cashew nuts, about 22 kg of kernels are extracted. India produces about 3.5 lt of kernel from 15 lt of raw cashew nuts. About 2.2 lt of cashew kernel is consumed domestically, while about 1.3-1.4 lt are exported. </p><p>In case of almonds, the entire quantity is imported into the country. California accounts for 95 per cent of the imports, while the rest is from countries such as Afghanistan. “The growth in imports in some ways mirrors the overall prosperity in Indian economy, which has continued to boom despite the overall global slow down,” said Sumit Saran, Director at The SCS Group, an agri-business consulting firm. “Growing awareness of healthy lifestyles and rising disposable incomes is driving the consumption of high-value food,” he said.<br></p><p></p>