<p>The latest figures on export of kernels released by the Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPCI) show a big fall. Cashew processors here, who account for the lion’s share of exports from the country, attribute it to the withdrawal of export incentives coupled with high production costs. <br></p> <p>Panic situation</p> <p>They said that a panic situation gripped the industry in view of the fall in exports. While kernel exports from the country in January 2015 was 10,431 tons, bringing the country foreign exchange valued at `.487.39 crore, in January this year, India exported only 6,649 tons of kernel, valued at `.358.60 crore. <br></p> <p>This is in spite of the fact that the unit export value per kilogram was `.539.33 in January this year compared to the value of `.467.24 per kilogram in January last year. The CEPCI figures show that while the export of kernels from April 2014 to January 2015 was 1,00,208 tons, bringing in foreign exchange worth `.4,533.45 crore, the export from April 2015 to January 2016 dropped to 84,424 tons bringing in foreign exchange of only `.4,143.84 crore. <br></p> <p>The average export price from April 2014 to January 2015 was `.452.60 a kilogram compared to the average export price of `.490.84 a kilogram from April 2015 to January 2016. <br></p> <p>Export of value added cashew kernels dropped to just four tons in January 2016 compared to 185 tons in January 2015. <br></p> <p>At the same time import of raw cashew nuts showed a big rise. In January 2015 the country imported 27,249 tons of raw cashew valued at `.244.78 crore, while in January this year, 41,693 tons were imported at `.471.51 crore. <br></p> <p>It shows a big foreign exchange deficit due to the fall in kernel exports. <br></p> <p>While 8,81,307 tons of raw cashew valued at `.7,728.93 crore was imported from April 2015 to January 2016, from April 2014 to January 2015 the import of raw cashew was 8,34,139 tons valued at `.5,693.75 crore. Most of the kernels processed from the imported kernels are now sold in the domestic markets, the processors said.<br></p>