<p>The Viet Nam Cashew Association (VINACAS) on Thursday advised its members to tighten control over exports in order to ensure the quality of products that carry the Vietnamese trademark.</p> <p>VINACAS told processors to pay special attention to the steps of drying and packaging as also carefully checking the quality of raw materials. They should also process separately cashew that has come from different sources to ensure that the rate of broken nuts is below 10 per cent in line with the 2012 standards set by the US Association of Food Industries, the association said.</p> <p>During the first nine months of 2014, cashew exports posted a 19.6-per cent year-on-year rise in volume to 225,000 tonnes and a 21.8-per cent year-on-year surge in value to $1.46 billion, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.</p>