MARKETING TRENDS IN CASHEW

Cashew gained commercial importance when shipments of cashewnut kernels commenced from India during the first quarter of the present century. Since then the export trade has developed phenominally. The annual export of cashew kernels from India ranged between 50,000 to 66,000 tons in the past decade except for the year 1977–78. About two-third of the processed nuts were imported till the year 1973–74. From 1974–75 onwards the percentage component of the indigenous nuts which entered in the export trade has been increasing (Table 1). The export of cashew kernels from India has grown at the rate of 4.1 per cent per annum during the period 1947–78 as compared to the annual growth rate of 6.6 per cent of the world export. The component of indigenous production in export trade has grown comparatively at a slow rate of 3 per cent per annum during the above period. The elasticity of the cashew kernels exported from India with reference to the indigenous component in export trade has turned out to be 1.36 and the elasticity with reference to the total export in the world is much below unity (0.62). It is evident therefore that Indian export has been growing faster than the Indian production but lagging behind the world export. Now there is an increasing recognition for an efficient marketing system for accelerating the production of cashew and for exporting the cashew kernels from India.

Marketing and pricing policy: Marketing of raw cashew in our country has not yet been organized in the systematic manner except in Kerala. As per the present practice in vogue, a major portion of the produce is collected by itinerant merchants and the agents of producing units, who during the

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