The cashew market witnessed some buoyancy last week with very little trading on thin buying interest.

Offers moved up a few cents, mainly on whole grades which were in the range of $3.75-3.90 an lb for W240, $3.30-3.45 for W320, $3.20-3.30 for W450 and SW320, $2.90-3.10 for SW360, $2.30-2.40 for Splits and Butts and $1.80-1.95 for Pieces. There was some business for W320 in the $3.30-3.35 (f.o.b) range, according to market sources.

Domestic market also moved up a bit, again with limited activity, they said.

During the last few days, there has been some buying interest from traders for shipments up to December in the range of $3.30-3.35 an lb (f.o.b) for W320 but selling interest has been limited. Most sellers are asking 10-15 cents higher which buyers are not willing to pay, Pankaj N. Sampat, a Mumbai-based dealer told Business Line . Due to the concerns about demand prospects and general lack of confidence in most countries, he said, “buyers are reluctant to pay even a few cents more to secure volume, they are content to buy in small lots at the lower end of the range”.

Market is delicately poised. If kernel activity does not pick up in the next 6-8 weeks, prices could drift lower in the last quarter. If the expected demand kicks in during Aug/Sep, “we could see prices move up because kernel availability in next few months will be lower since Raw Cashew Nut (RCN) purchases by most shellers have been lower than normal”, he said.

“First arrivals from Guinea Bissau have been disappointing in terms of quality – count, yield, grades. Quality from all West African countries has been a problem this year”, he said.

Although it is very difficult to predict how a market will move – especially with the current uncertainty in financial markets across the world – “our gut feeling is for slight firming up in the cashew market in the next few weeks.

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