Rising consumption of nuts in India is being reflected in the country’s imports, with a particular emphasis on almonds and cashews.
India’s almond imports have grown 36 per cent in the last three years, while cashew imports have risen 7 per cent, according to D Purandeswari, India’s Minister of State for Commerce.
Indian consumers are demanding greater volumes of nuts each year, but there is a shortfall in domestic production of cashews, which are imported from suppliers across Africa, as well as Indonesia, according to a report in the Hindu Business Line.
“Imports are necessary to meet the processing requirement as domestic production is inadequate,” said K Sasi Verma, the executive director and secretary of India’s Cashew Export Promotion Council.
India’s raw cashew nut handling capacity is currently 1.5m tonnes, which Verma said leaves around 700,000 tonnes of demand to be filled by imports.
Almonds, meanwhile, are almost entirely imported from Californian production, with only 5 per cent brought in from other supplies like Afghanistan.
“The growth in imports in some ways mirrors the overall prosperity in the Indian economy, which has continued to boom despite the overall global slow down,” said Sumit Saran of agribusiness consultancy the SCS Group.
“Growing awareness of healthy lifestyles and rising disposable incomes is driving the consumption of high-value food.”
Meanwhile, Indian cashew companies are looking at investments in Africa and Vietnam to develop trade, according to a report in the Economic Times. Companies like Rajkumar Impex and Olam Agro have already set up units in Vietnam and Africa, taking advantage of local government support for the cashew industry.
