The cashew market last week was nearly sluggish with very limited activities and some stray sales to the US and EU markets. Other markets were also quiet. Indian domestic market saw some inquiries but not much business was done.

China is reported to be buying selectively in Vietnam but volumes are small, market sources said.

Range of prices this week: W240 $3.70-3.85; W320 $3.30-3.45; W450 $3.05-3.15; SW $2.60-3.10; SSW $2.40-2.50; Splits $2.05-2.20 and Pieces $1.45-1.70 for one lb (f.o.b.).

Despite almost one month of very limited activity, there has not been much change in kernel prices. Most processors were reluctant to sell at lower levels, as they probably expect the demand to pick up after the holidays, Pankaj N. Sampat, a Mumbai-based dealer told Business Line .

He said during the burst of activity in Oct-Nov, most buyers covered a portion of their early 2013 needs but “we feel that there is still a fair amount of buying to be done for shipments in Jan-Apr.

“If Oct-Dec offtake is normal, inventories at end of the year will be low and replenishment demand will add to the volume to be bought. So we would expect market to be steady or move up a bit in January.”

Steady RCN (raw cashew nut) market was steady. Prices ranged from $850-1,350 a tonne depending upon origin and quality. There was reasonable movement of West African stocks in India and Vietnam plus some new shipments from the origin.

There was brisk buying in the Tanzania auctions – over 40,000 tonnes of RCN have been traded in less than a month.

Small quantities of Mozambique RCN have also been traded this week.

Brazil crop will be much smaller than the last two years which were already significantly lower than last few years’ average.

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