<p>The General Department of Vietnam Customs noted that during the first half of August, the country's cashew nut exports reached 21,500 tons, worth a total of US$146.2 million, representing a 10.1 per cent increase in volume and a rise of 9.3 per cent in value in comparison with the same period last month. </p><p>Since the beginning the year, cashew nut exports hit 261,200 tons, worth US$1.936 billion, a surge of 17.6 per cent in volume and a drop of 8.2 per cent in value compared to the same period last year.</p> <p>The average export price of cashew nuts during the first half of August fell by 0.8 per cent to US$6,812 per ton in comparison with the same period last month. The average export price has fallen 21.9 per cent to US$7,415 per ton since the beginning of the year.</p>During the remaining months of 2019, the demand for cashew nuts in the global market is expected to rise with the cashew sector targeting the export of 450,000 tons of cashew during the year, according to Vinacas. <p>Experts have concluded that due to low export prices, the global demand for cashew nuts is forecast to increase in the short term, higher than the set target of 10 per cent.</p> <p>Vinacas President Nguyen Van Cong believes that the price of cashew nuts is likely to rebound later this year with the world’s consumption demand for the food item projected to rise during the year’s fourth quarter.</p> <p>Vinacas said the cashew industry is likely to face a number of challenges of processing and trading cashew nuts in the future due to stricter requirements being implemented by importing countries.</p> <p>Most notably, demanding markets such as the United States and EU have announced that they are to apply additional food safety standards and inspect chemical residues on exports to their market.</p> The association also warned local cashew businesses about the need to further step up production and processing activities in a bid to supply their products to supermarkets in order to stabilize market prices. <br><p></p>