Following are my observations regarding the current situation.
1. The prima facie worry for the processors is their problem of negligible broken cashew sales, which was mainly driven by the Tourism, F&B and Marriage industry.
2. Raw cashew nuts (RCN) are present in abundant at all ports at relatively cheap rates. Mainly because processors are not covering themselves for the much awaited festival season due to the uncertainty over the current state of affairs.
However, that being said there is a dearth of quality material and processors might very well need to contend with subpar RCN for the festival quarter.
3. There is stable demand for cashew wholes, mainly due to low levels of production, but with growing uncertainty and zero broken cashew sales no processor wants to increase its production.
Also, semi lockdowns in certain production areas coupled with high number of active cases has hindered production in many cashew producing states.
Thus, it remains to be seen how the industry will be able to recover from this unusual predicament created by the pandemic.
Please do share your views.
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