6 - Cashew and tobacco

Summary

CASHEW KERNELS

In 1960, India enjoyed a virtual monopoly in the world market for cashew nuts. Although, during the 1960s, competition from other sources increased, it was still very limited. As such, India's exports of cashew kernels continued to grow rapidly, throughout the decade. This trend emerges quite clearly from Table 6.1. The average annual quantity exported rose from 44.6 million kg in the three-year period 1960/61–1962/63 to 58.2 million kg during 1968/69–1970/71. Over the same period, the average annual foreign exchange receipts from the export of cashew almost doubled, rising from $39.5 million to $75.7 million. The substantial difference between trends in value and volume can be explained in terms of the improvement in prices, which is reflected in the increasing average unit value. As a result, the average share of cashew kernels in the country's total export earnings increased from 2.8 per cent in 1960/61–1962/63 to 4.0 per cent in 1968/69–1970/71.

Prima facie, this appears to be an impressive export performance. However, the above statistics do not show the real exchange earnings of the Indian cashew industry, which had to import approximately two-thirds of its raw nut requirements. In Table 6.2 we have estimated the net foreign exchange earnings after allowing for the cost of importing raw cashew nuts. Such an adjustment reduces the magnitude of our earlier figures, but the growth in exports is still quite clear.