<p></p><p>April witnessed a steady cashew market with a slight softening in prices of W240 and W320 at the lower end of the range for nearbys from some processors. Prices were steady at the higher end of the range for forward positions. There were reasonable sales to many markets at both ends of the range. There was some pick up in off take in the Indian market but not much increase in prices, said market sources.</p> <p>The rage of prices last fortnight was for W240 from $3.50 to $3.70, W320 from $3.10 to $3.30, W450 from $2.90 to $3.00, SW320 from $2.95 to $3.05, SW360 from $2.75 to $2.85, Butts at around $2.60, Splits from $2.40 to $2.50 and Pieces from $1.55 to $1.75 per lb (fob). There are very few offers of brokens at lower end of the range. </p><p><b>RCN Prices decline</b> </p><p>After some firmness during March, there was some decline in Raw Cashew Nut (RCN) prices during April but despite that, new trades have been limited as kernel market has been slow. Current RCN prices for shipment are Ivory Coast (IVC) between $925 to $950 a ton C&F, Ghana at around $1,000 a ton C&F, Benin at around $1,025 a ton C&F, SEGABI at around $1,100 a ton C&F.</p> <p>Afloat parcels and small lots arrived in India and Vietnam of origin IVC, Benin and Ghana are trading at premium of $50-$100, depending on origin and quality. Unless kernel prices move up or at least kernel demand picks up, shellers will find it difficult to continue buying RCN. Slow down in RCN purchases May would result in a squeeze in Kernel availability in Jul/Aug </p><p>Current prices are the lowest in the last four years and below the average of the last two years, Mr Pankanj N Sampat a Mumbai based dealer told Business Line. These low prices are made more attractive because prices of other nuts are higher than Cashews (and higher than their respective recent average). Despite this, very few buyers are buying larger volumes for longer spreads. Most of them continue to buy for few months at a time. This strategy has worked well for them as there have been no supply issues during the last two years. Shellers are not too unhappy either as risks are lower (although chances of large profits are also reduced). </p><p>Compared with same time in 2013, RCN prices are more than 15 per cent higher and kernel prices are more than 5 per cent lower. Disparity between RCN and kernel prices has been continuing for more than 6 consecutive months. This cannot be sustained. Something has to change – either RCN prices have to come down significantly to last year’s levels or kernel prices have to move up a little - at least to the range of $3.25 to $3.50 per lb (fob) in the first half of 2013. </p><p>The next 4-8 weeks should be interesting. “In the meantime, it would be prudent for both sellers and buyers to cover a portion of their position for the next 6 months to avoid being caught on the wrong foot in case something unexpected happens”, the trade opined.<br></p><p></p><br>