The above information was stated by the Director of the Vietnam Confederation of Trade and Industry in Ho Chi Minh City (VCCI HCM) Tran Ngoc Liem at the Workshop "Potential for business investment with West Africa market in the agricultural products industry, especially especially the cashew industry", organized by VCCI HCM in collaboration with ARISE Company. Speaking at the opening of the Workshop, Mr. Tran Ngoc Liem assessed that, from a production industry that mainly uses domestic materials, supplies for domestic consumption and exports preliminary products, the cashew industry has developed into a manufacturing industry. important export, processing, import and export activities in the Vietnamese economy. Citing statistics from Vietnam Customs, Liem said that in 2021, despite being heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam's cashew exports still reached US$3.6 billion, up 10 per cent. 6% compared to 2019 (before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out). If compared with 2010, the export value of Vietnam's cashew nuts over 11 years has increased 3.2 times, an average increase of 20%/year. “Vietnam continues to be the world's largest exporter of cashew kernels for 15 consecutive years, accounting for 80% of global cashew kernel exports. Imported cashew materials also increased, reaching a record level of 2.9 million tons (in 2021), an increase of 74 times compared to 2011 (the first year the customs announced the statistics of cashew imports), equivalent to average growth rate of 64%/year", said Director of VCCI HCM Tran Ngoc Liem. Vietnam has only had 30 years of work every year Director of VCCI HCM Tran Ngoc Liem speaks at the Conference - Photo: Dinh Dai. However, Mr. Tran Ngoc Liem said that by 2022 and especially in the last months of 2022, there were many signs of difficulties in cashew production, business, import and export. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention, analyze to find ways to solve and find new directions and development. “In the first nine months of 2022, Vietnam's cashew exports decreased by 11% in volume over the same period last year to 380,536 tons and reached 2.3 billion USD, down 14.4% over the same period in 2021. There were 15/31 markets. The main export market of cashew nuts, the export value of Vietnam's cashews dropped sharply, such as: Ukraine decreased by 82.1%; Russia down 34.1%; United States down 19%; China decreased by 31%... The common cause was the influence of the Russian-Ukrainian war, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, rising inflation, and a decrease in consumer demand in the world....", Mr. Liem said. accumulate. Regarding the source of raw materials, Mr. Liem said that, although Vietnam is the largest exporter of finished cashew nuts in the world, only about 30% of the raw materials are active in Vietnam. The remaining raw materials must be imported from abroad. He said that in the first nine months of 2022, Vietnam imported 1.4 million tons of raw cashew nuts from six main markets, four African countries with 718,000 tons, accounting for 44.1% of the amount of imported cashews. There are Ivory Coast, Gana, Nigeria in West Africa, accounting for 37.9% of the amount of imported cashew. Next is Cambodia with 705,000 tons, accounting for 43.2%; and Indonesia with 6,862 tons, accounting for 0.4%. Compared to the same period in 2021, Vietnam's cashew imports decreased by 35.9% in quantity (tons) and decreased by 37.2% in value. Vietnam has only had 30 years of work every year The seminar attracted a large number of businesses to attend - Photo: Dinh Dai. From the above facts, Director of VCCI HCM Tran Ngoc Liem said that Vietnamese businesses should aim to set up offices in West Africa to be proactive in the business of purchasing and importing cashews to Vietnam to avoid risks. risks, disputes when having to go through a 3rd party. Besides, businesses also need to pay attention to investing in factories, taking advantage of raw materials, cheap labor and investment incentives of West African countries, producing preliminarily processed cashews, and exporting to Vietnam for export. deep processing to export to the world in order to add value in the global chain. Assessing the situation of cashew production and business in Vietnam in 2022, Mr. Bach Khanh Nhut - Standing Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Cashew Association (VINACAS) said that from the beginning of the year to October 15, 2022, all Vietnam cashew industry has exported 400,143 tons of cashew kernels of all kinds, export turnover reached 2.4 billion USD. Thus, it is expected that in 2022, it will be difficult for Vietnam to achieve the export target of 3.2 billion USD. Regarding imports, as of October 15, 2022, cashew businesses have imported 1,679,067 tons of raw cashew nuts from abroad with a value of 2.4 billion USD. Vietnam imports the most from main markets such as: Ivory Coast, Cambodia, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Guinea Bissau... Vietnam has only had 30 years of work every year Mr. Bach Khanh Nhut - Standing Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Cashew Association spoke at the Workshop - Photo: Dinh Dai. “In the first 10 months of 2022, the number of exported cashew kernels and imported raw cashew nuts both decreased compared to the same period in 2021. Vietnam's importers and processors continue to tend to be slow to purchase raw materials, due to many reasons. The reason is mainly because the price of imported raw cashew nuts is still too high compared to the export price of cashew kernels, making it difficult to balance to ensure the business efficiency of enterprises, "Mr. Nhut assessed. Regarding the situation of cashew production and business in the last months of 2022 and 2023, Nhut acknowledged that the situation will continue to have many difficulties and challenges, when China has not completely lifted the "Zero Covid" policy. , Russia-Ukraine conflict, international political-economic situation, inflation, stagnation, recession, the State Bank's policy of tightening credit, USD/VND exchange rate fluctuations... Therefore, the growth of the cashew industry will be significantly affected because the global demand for cashew kernels will continue to be gloomy, the world cashew raw material market will face many challenges. Assessing the competitive advantages of businesses manufacturing and trading cashew products in Vietnam, Nhut said that the biggest advantage of Vietnam's cashew industry is the stable political - economic - social environment. . Vietnam is also integrating more deeply and widely with the world. Many of the right mechanisms and policies for the cashew industry in the past time have been the "golden key" to help the cashew industry develop. He also said that the "core advantage" of the cashew industry in Vietnam is the development of mechanization, automation, innovation in technology - processing equipment of the cashew industry; up to now, most of the machinery. serving the processing of pre-processed cashew kernels manufactured by Vietnamese enterprises. In addition, Vietnam has many good scientists, researchers, and engineers. The Vietnamese workforce is highly skilled, intelligent, skillful, and diligent. In the process of international economic integration, Vietnamese enterprises are always flexible to adapt and meet the increasingly strict standards of the import market. Many factories are certified to BRC standards. Smeta HACCP... “Another advantage of the cashew industry and Vietnamese cashew production and business enterprises in our opinion is the high-quality local raw material area, although the total harvest is still low, only about 400 thousand tons. raw cashews per year," added Mr. Nhut.