Description
Cashew is a tropical evergreen plant, belonging to the family of Anacardiaceae, known for its seeds that are consumed worldwide. This plant is actually a small to medium sized tree with a single trunk and thick leaves. The sweet flavored nut like seeds are obtained from the bottom of the false fruit of this tree, which is termed as cashew apples. The outer covering of the seeds are toxic and is hence removed before consuming the seed. These kidney shaped kernels are of different grades, sizes and colors.
Overview
Cashew seed is the food product of the new world as it is a native to Brazil. It is placed third among the largest consumed tree nuts in the world. Cashew is largely consumed as a dry fruit or an ingredient in different cuisines of different cultures of the world. It is also used in the grounded form that is called cashew butter. This seed has a high level of oil content in it and that is why has some industrial uses as well. the oil is required for two main purposes i.e. used in brake linings as a friction particle and also as a major constituent in phenalkamine that is used as a floor coating material.The commercial production of cashew seed is done in more than 32 countries of the world. The seed generally prosper in the hot and humid regions of the earth near the equator like in central and south American zone, India and oceanic zone and African zone. The world’ total produce in the context of cashews is around 22.5 lakh tons per annum. Vietnam is the largest producer of raw cashew followed by India and Brazil. India dominates and leads the cashew kernel production list. The total area in the world under cashew cultivation figures up to 35.1 lakh hectares. The world consumption of cashew has ever been rising with time. In 1955 the world production figures for cashew consumption was 125000 tons which rose up to around 1 million tons in 1995 and now it is almost same as the level of production. The major cashew consuming countries in the world leaded by United States of America are

  • United States of America
  • European Union
  • India

The trade pattern in cashew in the world suggest that 8 to 9 million cartons of cashews are traded in the world in an year. The main countries that constitute the world cashew exporting list are

  • India (4.5 million cartons)
  • Vietnam (2.3 million cartons)
  • Brazil (1.75 million cartons)
  • Tanzania
  • Ghana

India contributes to over half of the world cashew exports. Vietnam gives a tough competition to India in the world market as it is the largest cashew producing nation of the world but still India is ahead in this scenario. Vietnam plans to take over India's dominance till 2010. Due to a large consumption level of this seed in the world, there is a long list of cashew importing countries, dominated by United States. Following are some of the major countries in that list

  • United States of America (4.5 million cartons)
  • European Union (2 million cartons)
  • China (0.75 million cartons)
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Japan
  • Saudi Arabia