The Hindu Business Line : Q1 cashew nut shell liquid exports drop

Kochi, Aug 1 Sharp rise in the price of cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) following greater demand in the world market has pushed down its shipment during the first quarter of the current fiscal.

There has been demand from China for the CNSL as it is being used there as furnace oil following the sharp rise in the prices of petroleum products, Kollam-based industry sources told Business Line.

“It is becoming a straight away substitute for petroleum products and the demand has raised the price almost three times at present,” they said.

Rising Prices

Unprecedented increase in price has, however, pushed down its exports in April-May 2008. As against 2,102 tonnes in the same period in 2007 the shipments this year were at 1,299 tonnes.

The average unit value went up to Rs 22.13 a kg from 15.63 in 2007. According to Mr Sasi Verma, Secretary, Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEOC), tannin and CNSL are groups of natural resins that are receiving wide attention as substitutes to synthetic binders in the production of bio-composites. It is also used in automobile and paint industry.

Its use as furnace oil has, of late, raised its demand and it is estimated at 1.6 lakh tonnes a year, a report said. As against this, the current production is estimated at 60,000 tonnes by cashew processing units spread over Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Goa and Orissa.

No modernisation

On the other hand, low price all these years forced the industry to neglect its production. Increasing the production would require modernisation of the units by switching over to steam processing. Besides, the workers are also not having a favourable approach, they said.

Therefore, an increase in production many not be likely, they said. India, Brazil and Vietnam are the major processors of cashew using the steam processing and the production in the latter two countries has declined this year creating a shortage of CNSL in the world market.

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