<p>Till the end of the 1980s, Vietnam used to export a major portion of the product mainly to India. In 1992, a delegation from Vietnam visited a cashew factory of Capex at Navaikulam to study processing. When they returned, raw cashew imports to India from that country began to fall.Vietmam took up processing in a big way and now imports about 1 lakh tonnes of raw nuts. The country started its mechanisation process in 2000. Yet, plenty of workers continue to work in factories there, the processors said. In India mechanisation has covered all States where there are cashew factories, except Kerala.Fearing political opposition in Kerala, many processors have now installed shelling machines in areas bordering Tamil Nadua.CITU State secretary N. Padmalochanan, who is a prominent leader of the cashew sector trade union, said that mechanisation should not be allowed all of a sudden. All sections concerned should hold comprehensive talks on the issue and, if needed, should be implemented in a very slow process with a guarantee that it would not result in thousands of workers losing jobs overnight.<br></p>