Statistics from the General Department of Customs, in August 2023, Vietnam's cashew exports continued to record a new record high of 60.58 thousand tons, earning 333.8 million USD, an increase of 10.8%. in volume and up 9.7% in value compared to July 2023. Compared to August last year, cashew exports increased sharply by 29.2% in volume and 21.8% in value. By the end of August this year, our country exported nearly 395.6 thousand tons of cashew nuts, with a value of 2.28 billion USD, an increase of 15.5% in volume and an increase of 11.3% in value compared to the same period last year. period last year. Cashew nuts also became the third industry to record high growth in the first 8 months of 2023 in the "billion dollar export club" of the agricultural industry, second only to vegetables and rice. However, Vietnam's average cashew export price in the first 8 months of 2023 only reached 5,760 USD/ton, down 3.6% over the same period in 2022. Notably, the cashew industry is still in a trade deficit as import turnover by the end of August this year reached approximately 2.46 billion USD, up 12.4% over the same period last year. Regarding export markets, the US and China are still the largest customers of Vietnamese cashew nuts. These two markets accounted for 41.8% of our country's total cashew export turnover in 8 months of this year. In August, the US and China both spent large amounts of money buying cashew nuts. Thanks to that, Vietnam's cashew export value increased by 33.8% and 37.3% respectively compared to August 2022. In particular, cashew exports to the United Arab Emirates market increased by 148.7% compared to August last year. The remaining markets also recorded double-digit growth. In general, for the first 8 months of 2023, except Australia and Spain, cashew exports to all major markets increased. Of which, cashew nut exports to the Chinese market earned nearly 361 million USD, up 33.9% over the same period last year. Cashew exports to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia increased sharply over the same period last year, at 46.6% and 40.1% respectively. Industry experts predict that from the third quarter of 2023, Vietnam's cashew exports will increase thanks to cyclical factors and increased import demand from the US and EU. Currently, domestic factories have signed many new orders and demand for this product has begun to increase. Production activities are vibrant, many units have to increase processing capacity to keep up with orders signed for the last two quarters of the year. Improving quality, diversifying products and making good use of opportunities from the market will help Vietnam's cashew industry continue to grow and breakthrough. According to the latest plan of the Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas), if raw cashew prices continue to be stable and tend to decrease from now until the end of the year and early 2024, Vietnam's cashew kernel export turnover in the year 2023 will reach about 3.05 billion USD (down 50 million USD compared to the plan).