HANOI. Despite the import taxes on Vietnamese cashews, the USA remains the most important buyer, accounting for 22.7% of total exports. Vinacas reckons that this will remain the case in 2025. Export price has risen As current statistics from the Vietnamese customs authority show, Vietnam's exports of processed cashew nuts totalled 122,170 mt in the first quarter of 2025, worth a good 839 million mt. According to the Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas), this represents a 19% decrease in volume but a 3.7% increase in value compared to the same period last year. The average export price for cashews to all major export markets increased by 12.8-37.9% compared to Q1 of 2024. Vinacas cites fluctuations in global crops, particularly in the African origins, as the main reason for this. These are among the most important raw material producers, but adverse weather conditions and logistical hurdles have led to difficulties in recent months. The most important buyers of Vietnamese cashews in the first three months of 2025 were once again the USA (22.7%), the Netherlands (11.2%) and China (9.8%). While exports to the US and China declined, they increased to other markets such as the Netherlands and Japan. Especially he 43.5% increase in exports to the Netherlands is remarkable. Global production to increase In 2024, Vietnam exported a total of 730,000 mt of processed cashew nuts worth USD 4.37 billion, an increase of 13.3% in volume and 20.2% in value compared to 2023. At USD 6,003/mt, the average export price was 6.1% higher than in 2023. The US alone imported Vietnamese cashews worth over USD 1.1 billion. Exports to the EU are also on the right track. Nguyen Minh Hoa, Vice President of Vinacas, forecasts global cashew production to grow by 10-15% to just under 6 million mt in 2025. However, prices on the global market are volatile and could fluctuate significantly, especially from May onwards. No direct competition Since 10 April, cashew shipments to the US have been subject to a 10% tax, and this tax rate could be increased again from July. Nevertheless, Vinacas expects the country to remain an important destination for Vietnamese exports, and traders are also endeavouring to keep exports flowing. It is likely that cashews will be one of the products that will not be subject to the highest tax rate. The fact that the USA has neither its own cashew-growing areas nor factories for processing means that there is little risk of economic security being directly affected by imports.