Preference for healthier foods and a shift away towards dry fruits from sweet boxes as gifts during the festival season, as well as a relaxation of Covid regulations in most regions in the country, are anticipated to boost cashew demand in the coming days.
According to Santosh D'Silva, President of Karnataka Cashew Manufacturers' Association (KCMA), predicts high demand during the coming festivals of Dussehra and Deepavali. He also told sales during Raksha Bandhan and Ganesh Chaturthi were good, as full supplies at the wholesalers' end exhausted.
“We anticipate a high level of demand for the forthcoming Navaratri-Dusshera and Deepavali seasons. As customers turn to healthier alternatives, dry fruit hampers are replacing sweet boxes in a major way this year. With the majority of states relaxing the Covid restrictions, we anticipate a large turnout. This would boost sales of cashew wholes for gifting and cashew are broken for manufacturing sweets,” he explained.
Because the cashew industry was only constantly functional in Karnataka for the whole year, there was significant demand from all consumer segments. According to him, the majority of the other processing Centres have had lesser scale operations owing to a variety of factors, the most important of which is Covid.
As a result, there was a scarcity of processed kernels, and industries in Karnataka were able to take advantage of this opportunity to increase volumes and enter new markets. According to D'Silva, the realization that cashew is a nutritious snack and an immune booster (due to the presence of minerals like zinc) is driving higher retail sales.
K Prakash Rao, Chairman of the Karnataka Food Processing and Agri Task Force of the CII (Confederation of Indian Sector), Karnataka, and a cashew processor, said the industry is predicting a healthy off-take in the days ahead with the festival season approaching. “We will see excellent demand and buoyancy in the cashew market ahead of Deepavali,” he said, adding that a sharp spike in almond prices may also help boost demand.
Cashew Has an Edge Over Other Dry Fruits:
Almond prices have nearly doubled in the last few weeks, according to Rao. This rise is attributable to a number of factors, the most notable of which is a shortage of shipments from California, which is struggling from drought. According to his predictions, the almond crop would be significantly lower than the previous year.
“Cashew is more attractive in current pricing than the rest of the dry fruits in the basket, therefore we predict a higher demand for cashew during the festival season in October and November,” Prakash Rao said.
D'Silva claims that cashew has an edge over other dry fruits in terms of supply because it is processed exclusively in India. The majority of the raw materials needed for the forthcoming season have already been harvested, arrived, or are in transit, lowering the risk of supply interruptions.
The factories are now completely operational. Cashew has the most stable supply chain of all the dry fruits and nuts supplied in India today. Any spike in demand, according to D'Silva, can be addressed right away.
Because of the shift in perspective, he claims, cashew wholes are gaining good traction in the market. A lot of packaged snacks have been supplanted as a favored table/bar snack with cashews. Cashew brokers are also in high demand as sales for sweets have resumed and the majority of the hotel industry has reopened.
