Staggering cashew trade to be revitalised

Hathoon Sheriffdeen

Revenue: Sri Lankan cashew industry earns nearly Rs. 200 million in foreign exchange revenue per year by exporting cashew nuts to various countries. These however are small-scale exports, Manager-Marketing, Sri Lanka Cashew Corporation, Sumith Perera said.

8,000 metric tonnes of raw cashew nuts are cropped per year out of which 1,600 metric tonnes are cashew kernels. 25 per cent of them are exported and 75 per cent are locally consumed, he said.

"We export Sri Lankan cashew nuts to Middle East countries, Canada, U.S.A., Israel, United Kingdom and Japan on a major scale", he said. Sri Lankan cashew has a greater demand in various countries around the world. The taste, quality and the big size of Sri Lankan cashew nuts attract the global cashew market on a large scale.

Mainly India, Vietnam, South Africa and some parts of the Northern Africa export cashew nuts to the global market. Our cashew nuts are much better than the nuts exported by these countries. But, our productivity of cashew is very low, Perera said.

Sri Lanka cashew Corporation is working on a path to improve the productivity of the cashew nuts. The marketing strategy of cashew has taken a new shape from last year, which is very successful.