More Japanese consumers prefer Vietnamese cashew nuts

According to the International Trade Centre (ITC), in the first five months of 2021, Japan's cashew nut imports reached US$33.17 million, down 11.2 percent year-on-year.

Specifically, Japan sharply reduced the import of cashew nuts from India – its biggest exporter of the product, which resulted in a decrease of 22.8 percent, reaching US$19.14 million.

On the other hand, Japan increased its imports from Vietnam with an increase of 4.5 percent and a total value of US$12.92 million. Vietnam’s cashew nut market share in the total import value of Japan accounted for 38.97 percent during the January-May period, higher than the 33.09 percent of the first five months of 2020.

It can be seen that Japanese consumers tend to gradually switch from consuming Indian cashew nuts to the similar product of Vietnam.

In 2020, Vietnam shipped over 6,500 tonnes of cashew nuts worth US$42.5 million to Japan, up 83 percent in volume and 64.55 percent in value year-on-year.