China ranks 2nd among importers of Vietnam's cashew nuts

China ranks 2nd among importers of Vietnam's cashew nuts

HANOI, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- China continued to rank second among importers of Vietnamese cashew nuts after the United States in the first half of 2014, despite the shrinking market, according to statistics released by the Vietnam Customs Tuesday.

Vietnam Industry and Trade Information Center (VITIC) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade on Tuesday quoted the information from Vietnam Customs as saying that during the six-month period, Vietnam exported some 138.73 million U.S. dollars worth of cashew nuts to China, an increase of 31.09 percent year-on-year.

In June alone, Vietnam earned over 25.48 million U.S. dollars from cashew nuts export to the market, down 5.19 percent year-on- year.

Vietnam has witnessed a decline in market share of cashew export to China in the past few years. Specifically, in 2000, China imported some 11,000 tons of cashew nuts from Vietnam, accounting for 32.6 percent of the market share.

In 2013, the import volume reached 52,000 tons, but the market share fell down to 20 percent. In the first six months of 2014, the figure slipped to over 16.3 percent, said VITIC.

During the six-month period, the United States remained the biggest importer of Vietnamese cashew nuts with over 265.36 million U.S. dollars worth of products, up 23.42 percent year-on- year, accounting for 31.19 percent of the market share.

The Netherlands ranked third in the list with nearly 94.38 million U.S. dollars worth of cashew nuts shipped to the country, up 30.16 percent in value year-on-year, making up 11.09 percent of the market share.

In the first seven months of 2014, Vietnam shipped some 158,000 tons of cashew nuts to the world market, earning 1.02 billion U.S. dollars, up 15.7 percent in volume and 17.5 percent in value year- on-year, said Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Vietnam remained the biggest cashew nut exporter in the world for eight consecutive years as of 2013. Vietnam's cashew nut has been exported to some 40 countries and regions worldwide.

- Xinhua