Petrol prices increase, cashew shell oil benefits Formerly an officer of a cashew nut processing company, after retirement, Mr. N.Ä.Cuong (Binh Phuoc) teamed up with a few friends to establish a company specializing in the production of cashew nut shell oil, and is currently one of the largest companies in the industry. Mr. Cuong said that in the period 2008-2009, cashew shells were just waste products, processing companies often gave them away for free or sold them to brick kilns and kilns as fuel at cheap prices like garbage. Thanks to research and observation that foreign units have taken advantage of pressed cashew shells for essential oils, with high value and great potential, his group of friends was determined to invest. According to Mr. Cuong, the fact that the cashew tree can take advantage of no parts. Cashew shells, instead of being used as fuel, are brought back to be pressed into oil, making industrial fuel with a price about 60% cheaper than FO oil. In addition, it is also distilled to make Cardanol used in industries and techniques such as used as fuel in boilers, production of wear-resistant, friction-resistant materials, paints, varnishes, adhesives. … has high economic profit. After that, the shell of the cashew nut continued to be used as a fuel instead of coal. As a result, the value of the cashew industry is greatly increased. The more you take advantage, the more the value of cashews increases. Not only businesses, but the biggest beneficiaries are the cashew growers. From the body to the kernel, to the shell, every part brings economic value. Mr. Ta Quang Huyen “At that time, cashew essential oil was a proprietary product, very few people did it, the investment cost was not too high because the machinery and equipment could be produced right in Vietnam, so the profit was high, the company grew up quite quickly. We export a lot of cashew shell oil to major markets such as China, Korea, Japan and the European region. Of course, now there are many businesses involved, so the level of competition increases, profits are no longer the same, but in general, the value of Vietnam's cashew industry has multiplied many times over the period about a decade ago. ", said Mr. Cuong. Agreeing, a representative of T. Company, which specializes in cashew oil processing in Dong Nai, said that each year, the unit exports about 6,000 tons of cashew oil and sells 2,000 tons of cashew shells domestically. This year, the world price of gasoline has increased continuously, so the price of cashew oil has also increased. The foreign market demand is also quite large, but for companies with small business capital, it is difficult to expand because they do not have enough finance to invest in more equipment and production lines. Meanwhile, for enterprises specializing in cashew nut production and processing such as Hoang Son 1 Joint Stock Company, cashew nut shell is the "savior" in the past period, Mr. Ta Quang Huyen, General Director of Hoang Son Company 1, said the price of cashew shells this year increased 3 times compared to previous years. In just a short time, the revenue from selling cashew shells has contributed to 20% of the total value of the company's products, instead of only about 5-10% in the previous period. Especially this year, when the price of cashew kernels is falling sharply, the price of cashew shells has increased to compensate for about 10% of revenue, helping Hoang Son 1 to escape a heavy loss. “The more you make use of it, the more valuable the cashew nut will be. Not only businesses, but the biggest beneficiaries are the cashew growers. From the body to the kernel, to the shell, every part brings economic value," said Mr. Ta Quang Huyen. Value 300 - 400 million USD According to some businesses, from 1 ton of dried cashews, 250-300kg of kernels and 700-750kg of shells can be processed, from which about 154kg of oil can be produced. Cashew oil has ingredients used in high-quality adhesive materials, used as a film-forming agent to produce marine paint or other pressing, heat-resistant, chemical-resistant materials for industrial applications. electrical and electronic... But currently, domestic enterprises still mainly focus on producing cashew oil, not focusing on processing the higher value Cardanol oil. While many Chinese enterprises buy crude cashew oil from Vietnam and refine it into many other products with much higher economic value, including Cardanol oil. If they know how to make use of rice husks as fuel, farmers will not burn straw indiscriminately; If you know how to process pangasius intestines for animal feed and pangasius fat for oil, Vietnam's pangasius will not only be able to export fillets like today, Vietnam will also not have to spend billions of dollars a year to import animal feed and raw materials for production of animal feed. Not only the product value is multiplied many times, economic efficiency increases, but also minimizes activities that cause environmental pollution and completely changes the face of Vietnam's agriculture and rural industry. Assoc.Prof.Dr. Vu Trong Khai A representative of an enterprise explained that because the investment cost of Cardanol production machinery was quite high, they were not interested. Similarly, producing pellets from cashew shells to increase exports such as wood pellets due to easy and clean transportation, there are not many production units. Mr. Ta Quang Huyen said that although there are no specific statistics, it is estimated that the value of cashew shell products such as oil and dried residue accounts for 5 - 15% of the value of this industry, ranging from 300 to 400 million VND. USD. Vietnam is currently a country with a great advantage to produce cashew oil and hardly competes with anyone. Currently, only India produces this product in the world, but it is mainly consumed domestically. Assoc.Prof.Dr. Vu Trong Khai, an independent expert on agricultural and rural development policy, assessed: Not only cashew nuts, all agricultural, forestry and aquatic products can be processed and reprocessed waste. products to bring added economic value. That is the circular economy model that developed countries have been doing for a long time. The circular economy not only reduces production costs, but also increases product value. In Vietnam, in the past all these materials were wasted. In fact, waste processing technology is not difficult, unlike the biological production process, research on plant varieties and breeds is complicated and takes a long time to adapt to the Vietnamese environment. Since the world has long been ahead, we can quickly take advantage of the technology available from them. The important thing is that no one has the mindset to do. Farmers have little access to new technology. Enterprises, when the price of cashew kernels, high prices of coffee beans, and great profits, no one thinks about taking advantage of waste products and processing them. Only when the price of the main product drops and there is no profit, they are forced to think about processing waste products to compensate for their losses. This mindset needs to change and circular economic models such as the cashew industry story need to be replicated for all agriculture, forestry and fishery sectors of Vietnam. “1 ha of agricultural land, if well exploited the circular economy model, can help farmers harvest 1 billion VND/year. On the same land, if converted to low-tech industries such as textiles, it will only generate 300 million VND/year. Look there to see the great social and economic benefits that the circular economy can bring. The government, specifically the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, should encourage businesses to change their thinking and develop the circular economy by providing preferential loans, open policies and procedures, etc.," Assoc.Prof.Dr. Vu Trong Khai emphasized.