<p></p><p>With the cashew industry in Kollam undergoing a slow death due to higher wages and lack of concrete measures from the part of government for its revival, various ports across the country have come forward to woo the merchants to set up units in other states. <br></p> <p>The fourteen thousand crore cashew industry, which is mainly dependent on imported cashew for processing, used to be endowed with facilities like better warehousing, easier customs clearance procedures and transport concession. <br></p> <p>But with higher wages resulting in the closure of more than 60 per cent of the major cashew factories in the state, the focus of the ports is to encourage cashew businessmen in the erstwhile cashew hub to build processing units nearer to the port. <br></p> <p>The Krishnapatnam port in Andhra Pradesh is offering not only land but also cheap labour for setting up factories. “The industry has welcomed the move. Once it becomes a successful model, more businessmen will follow the suit,” said R K Bhootesh, chairman, Federation of Indian Cashew Industry. The management of the Krishnapatnam Port Container Terminal (KPCT) said the port has a land bank of 12,000 acres which could be given to cashew manufacturers on lease or sale at significantly lower costs than the market rate. “We can also provide labourers. We will train the workers through our CSR initiatives,” said KPCT Director Vinita Venkatesh.</p> <p> As per the estimate of KPCT, a worker will cost Rs 250 a day. This is cheaper than the prevailing rates in Kerala (Rs 378 per day before the hike). Vinita claimed that some of the cashew companies such as Vijayalaxmi cashews (VLC), Maruthi, Kohinoor and Bharat Cashews have agreed to use the port on a trial basis. VLC and Prashanthi cashew company have units in Andhra Pradesh. Singapore-based Olam which used to have factories in Kerala has also shifted its base to Andhra.</p> <p> KPCT is eyeing the market share of Tuticorin port (V O Chidambaranar Port) which receives the maximum quantity (4.1 lakh tonnes) of imported cashews in the country. VOC port became the favoured port of cashew manufacturers at the expense of Cochin port. It has initiated steps to start a coastal shipping link with the Kollam port. Meanwhile, cashew factories such as Rajkumar Impex has started large scale production unit in the vicinity of the port.</p> <p> “We have the location advantage compared to other ports. Many cashew manufacturers already have units or in the process to take advantage of the transportation cost and the services offered by the port,” said U Rajendran, Traffic Manager of VOC port.</p> <p> As for the Cochin port, cashew remains the single largest imported cargo. Facing the double whammy of competition among ports and threat of boycott, the port has managed to get faster customs clearance.</p> <p> Cochin Port Trust and the DP World is planning to organise a trade meet in Kollam in the wake of upcoming cashew season.These ports have been putting up trade fairs when the industry experts are questioning the viability of running this traditional industry in the state. </p> <p> According to the cashew exporters, high labour cost imposed by the government through a 35 per cent hike in minimum wages has pushed the industry to brink.</p> <p> Kollam was among the three locations in India where the cashew industry had started. With the entrepreneurship of the local businessmen and the availability of skilled labourers, Kollam flourished into a cashew hub. The biggest cashew exporting company in the country, VLC, is based in Kollam.</p> <p>“Around three lakh labourers work at 600 odd cashew factories in the state. Even when local businessmen expanded outside the state, Kollam continued to remain the favoured location for grading export quality kernels. However, the steady mechanisation in the industry seems to have neutralised the cost advantage of running the factories around skilled labourers. Now, we require just one-fifth of the labour in a mechanised factory. Hence the ease of doing business has become the crucial parameter,” said Bhootesh. The share of the state in cashew processing has come down to 28 percent from 82 per cent enjoyed a decade back. It remains to be seen if the government would conduct a SWOT analysis and take steps to anchor the Forex earning industry in the state itself.</p><p></p>