<p>According to the Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas), the sector will focus on deep processing, improving quality and diversifying products towards realizing the goal. In 2019, the sector imported over 1.5 million tonnes of raw materials, mostly from Africa, to meet its processing and production demand. </p><p>Mergers and acquisitions have also taken place this year with more and more large-scale enterprises operating in the industry, the association said. By the end of November, Vietnamese businesses had shipped more than 418,000 tonnes of cashew abroad for almost 3 billion USD, while this year’s targets are 450,000 tonnes and 3.5 billion USD. The US is still the biggest importer of Vietnamese cashew nuts, followed by China and the Netherlands. Data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shows that the agriculture sector enjoyed a trade surplus of 8.8 billion USD in the first 11 months. </p> The country earned 37.3 billion USD from the export of farm produce and forestry and aquatic products during the period, a year-on-year increase of 3.6 percent. Meanwhile, 28.5 billion USD was spent on agro-forestry-fishery imports, down 0.7 percent. China remained the largest buyer of agricultural products from Vietnam, accounting for 26.9 percent of total exports, followed by the US, the EU, ASEAN and Japan. <br><p></p>