In just seven months, Vietnamese businesses have spent over USD 2.9 billion importing cashew nuts, primarily from Cambodia. Cashews have now become the top imported commodity in Vietnam's agricultural sector. According to data from the General Department of Customs, total import turnover of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products in the first seven months of this year reached approximately USD 28.16 billion, up 14.2% compared to the same period in 2024. The top six imported agricultural commodities were animal feed and raw materials, cashew nuts, corn, timber and wood products, aquatic products, and fruits and vegetables. These accounted for 43.2% of the sector’s total import value over the past seven months. Notably, between January and July 2025, Vietnamese enterprises spent USD 2.93 billion to import nearly 1.9 million tons of raw cashew nuts from various countries. While the import volume only increased slightly by 6.2% year-on-year, the value surged by 36.1%. This made cashews the highest-value imported item in the agricultural sector, overtaking animal feed and raw materials (USD 2.67 billion). In comparison, cashew imports in 2024 were valued at USD 3.22 billion, while animal feed imports stood at USD 4.9 billion. Preliminary data from the General Department of Customs reveals that Cambodia has become Vietnam’s largest supplier of raw cashew nuts, with import value reaching USD 1.39 billion - an impressive increase of 37.6% compared to the same period last year. Remarkably, this USD 1.39 billion figure already surpasses Cambodia's total cashew export value to Vietnam in the entire years of 2022, 2023, and 2024. It is second only to the all-time high of USD 1.87 billion recorded in 2021. Currently, cashew nuts from Cambodia account for 47.4% of Vietnam’s total cashew imports. In addition to Cambodia, Vietnamese companies also imported cashews from Ivory Coast (USD 433 million), Tanzania (USD 224 million), and Ghana (USD 221 million). According to the Vietnam Cashew Association, the industry aims to achieve USD 4.5 billion in exports by the end of 2025. To meet this target, alongside improving quality and diversifying export markets, processors must ramp up raw cashew imports to meet production demand. Many businesses favor Cambodian cashews due to lower logistics costs and reduced risk. In July alone, Vietnam exported 65,000 tons of cashews, earning USD 437.7 million. This brought total exports for the first seven months to 409,600 tons, worth USD 2.79 billion. While the export volume dipped by 3.3% year-on-year, export value rose by 17.4% thanks to a 21.4% increase in average export prices, estimated at nearly USD 6,800 per ton.