The Cambodian cashew market in Vietnam may be saturated, and Cambodia should look for new market outlets or sources or strengthen domestic processing capacity to increase added value and strengthen market independence.
According to a report by the Vietnamese press, in just the first five months of 2025, Vietnamese companies imported approximately 873,200 tons of cashew nuts from Cambodia, worth approximately $1.32 billion. The volume of imports increased by 15 percent, while the value increased by more than 36 percent compared to the same period in 2024.
The volume of unprocessed cashew nuts imported from Cambodia to Vietnam accounts for nearly 63 percent of the cashew nut demand for further processing and export. However, in terms of exports, Vietnam’s export volume in the first half of the year fell, even though its price increased.
Vietnam Plus reported that in the first half of the year, Vietnam exported only 346,800 tons of cashew nuts, down 2.7 percent, while the export value was $2.36 billion, up 20 percent. .
The drop in export volume is a sign that Vietnam may further slow down its cashew nut imports from Cambodia, even though Vietnam still aims to increase exports of the product to its own market.
In a year, Cambodia can harvest about 1.2 million tons of cashew nuts, but it can increase or decrease depending on weather factors, and of that, a small portion, Cambodia can process locally, while the majority, around 90 percent, is exported to Vietnam.
So far, cashew nuts have a wide market because they are known to be a type of food that has health benefits and can be eaten plain or used as an ingredient in some dishes.
Its markets include China, Japan, South Korea, India, Europe, America, and even the Middle East, which is also popular, which is where Cambodia should consider strengthening domestic production and exporting directly to increase added value for citizens and create jobs.
