Promote the production of value-added products
According to experts, in the context that African countries are promoting the development of cashew processing industry, to maintain its position in the world market, Vietnam's cashew industry must increasingly improve its competitiveness with high quality products. high quality products, value added products and other products from cashew nuts. And science and technology will continue to play a significant role in the new path of Vietnam's cashew industry.
keeping the condition of increasing product value
Cashew processing. Photo: IT.
Reality shows that in recent years, many businesses in the cashew industry have promoted investment in technology, machinery and equipment to produce value-added products from cashew kernels. Some famous names include Hoang Son Food (salted roasted cashews, cashew and corn snacks), Thao Nguyen (salted roasted cashews, sesame-wrapped cashews, honey cashews, wasabi-flavored cashews...), Dan D Pak (salted, unsalted, spicy, garlic, honey, salt and pepper, syrup...), Huy Van (salted roasted cashew kernels, salt roasted cashew shells)...
Mr. Vu Thai Son, Chairman of Binh Phuoc Cashew Association, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Long Son Group, said that free trade agreements (FTAs) are contributing to promoting the export of value-added products from cashew kernels. Because in the past, pre-processed cashew nuts exported from Vietnam to many markets had a tax rate of 0%, but value-added products from cashew kernels were subject to import tax due to countries protecting the industry. domestic food processing industry.
Since the FTAs took effect, import tax on value-added products from Vietnam's cashew nuts has also gone to zero. This is a favorable condition for Vietnam's cashew industry to promote the export of high-value products. value increases as demand in the world market for these products is increasing.
Long Son Group is also one of the leading enterprises in investing in technology, machinery, and equipment to process and export value-added products from cashew nuts and high-quality cashew kernel products. In 2023, this enterprise has promoted the export of many value-added products to the Chinese market such as salted roasted cashews, chili garlic cashews, spiced cashews, sesame cashews, honey cashews...
keeping the condition of increasing product value
Deep processing of a variety of products from cashew nuts is helping businesses increase their competitiveness in the market. Photo: Dr.
In particular, thanks to value-added products and high-quality cashew kernels, Long Son has been able to sell directly to the Walmart supermarket system. This is the first and only cashew business in Vietnam to date that sells cashew nuts directly to Walmart - the world's leading retail system. Therefore, in the production and business plan for 2024 and the coming years, Long Son will continue to promote the processing of high-quality, value-added products to supply Walmart and other large supermarket systems. around the world and increase the export of these products.
In addition to value-added products, many businesses in the cashew industry have also invested in machinery and equipment to produce cashew shell oil. This type of oil is used in industry such as being used as fuel in boilers (about 60% cheaper than fuel oil), producing anti-wear and friction-resistant materials, and paints. , varnish, glue...
Vietnamese cashew shell oil is not only used domestically but has been exported to markets such as China, Korea, Japan... There are no official statistics, but it is estimated that shell oil is exported each year. Cashew nuts bring businesses hundreds of millions of dollars. Besides, utilizing cashew shells to produce cashew shell oil is also contributing to significantly reducing environmental pollution. Because in the past, cashew shells were often used as fuel or burned, leading to environmental pollution, affecting human health because the smoke from burning cashew shells contains many toxic substances.
Improve food value and safety from new technologies
Staying ahead of the development trend of Vietnam's cashew industry, in recent times, in addition to the usual types of machinery and equipment serving cashew kernel processing such as seed sizers, cashew cutting machines, shelling machines, Cashew dryers, color blasting machines, packaging machines..., many companies specializing in manufacturing and supplying cashew processing machinery and equipment have promoted research and brought to the market various types of machinery and equipment for production. value-added products from cashew nuts, high quality cashew kernels and cashew shell oil.
keeping the condition of increasing product value
Oxylow organic fumigation at a cashew factory of Tan Long Group. Photo: Thanh Son.
These include the cashew kernel roasting system of Gia Loi Long An, the fried cashew processing line and the cashew shell oil processing line of Mekong Technology Investment and Development Company Limited... Types of machines Machinery and equipment produced by Vietnamese companies are continuing to help many cashew businesses successfully produce and export value-added products, high-quality products, cashew shell oil... abroad. .
In addition, many new technologies that help improve quality, food safety, reduce processing costs... are also being introduced to Vietnam's cashew industry and have been applied effectively in many cashew processing factories. .
One of the solutions that is attracting attention is the Oxylow organic fumigation system of Anh Phi Technical Services Trading Company Limited (AP Engineering, headquartered in Ben Cat town, Binh Duong). Ms. Cam Xuyen, representative of AP Engineering, said that Oxylow uses the principle of air control, creating an extremely low oxygen environment to kill insects at all stages of growth (eggs, larvae...) and absolutely no chemicals are used.
Therefore, batches of cashew nuts sterilized with this solution not only ensure complete destruction of weevil eggs and larvae, no recurrence of weevils, but are also safe for the factory and safe for consumers. Oxylow also helps adjust product moisture during processing, helping to reduce re-drying time. Many large companies in Vietnam's cashew industry have used Oxylow organic fumigation solutions such as Olam, Tan Long, Hanfimex..., thereby improving food safety as well as the value of their businesses' cashew nuts.
A new technology from AP Engineering that is also being interested and applied by many factories (including Olam - the largest cashew exporter today) is Cattis - a technology that shortens the cashew kernel processing process. With this technology, instead of taking up to 6 days to go from raw cashew nuts to finished cashew kernels, it now only takes 1 day.