<p></p><p>India stands to lose a significant share of over Rupees5,000-crore annual export earnings of cashew as export of the nut heads for its worst fall in a decade with over 80 per cent of the factories in Kerala, which holds a major share of shipments, remaining closed. </p> <p>The nut export has plunged by 34 per cent for four months to July in FY19 from a year earlier to 20,667 tonnes. Despite an increase in the unit value of cashew, the export earnings for the period have also slumped by 32 per cent to Rupees,1447 crore as per data of The Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPCI). “Unless the Centre approves the revival package submitted by the industry and extends the time to meet the new input-output norms, the current trend may persist for the remaining ye year,’’ said S Kannan, CEPCI executive director. </p><p>In 2017-18, cashew export volumes had bucked the trend of the previous two years and registered a marginal rise in quantity at 84,352 tonnes. The value had shown a healthy rise of 13.5 per cent to Rupees5,871 crore. </p><p>While cashew processing takes place in as many as 16 states, the export is dominated by the processors from Kollam district in Kerala. But apart from some big ones, 700 out of 834 units have wound up business in the past 2-3 years, defaulting on bank loans. </p><p>The trouble began with the imposition of 9.36 per cent import duty to curtail misuse in 2016. This was followed by the rise in the price of raw nuts by over three times to touch $2,400 per tonne. </p><p> </p><br><p></p>