ISHS Acta Horticulturae 108: International Cashew Symposium
PATTERNS AND TRENDS IN INDIA'S EXPORT TRADE IN CASHEW |
| Author: | D. BALASUBRAMANIAM |
| Abstract:
Cashew, a native of Brazil, was brought to India by the early Portuguese settlers over 400 years ago. Over the years it has established in this country and is now grown widely throughout the west coast of India and many other parts of the country viz. Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Orissa and West Bengal. It was not until the beginning of the current century that cashew kernels were commercially produced for domestic consumption and export. Between 1900 and the outbreak of the first World War in 1914, very small quantities of cashew kernels, still unpeeled, were exported from India mainly to Marseilles and occasionally to London, packed in mangowood cases lined with newspaper. Shortly after the first World War, a few trial shipments were made to New York, but infestation was a serious problem. The General Foods Corporation of U.S.A. first introduced the idea of packing cashew-kernels in an atmosphere of carbon dioxide, a method which was patented by them during the early 1920's. It was this development which laid the foundation for a growing export trade in cashew kernels from India. In the year 1923, total exports from India amounted to only 45 tons. By 1930 exports increased to about 2,300 tons and by 1939, 13,500 tons. During these years India's exports of cashew kernels were almost exclusively to the U.S.A. with small quantities being exported to the United Kingdom. The second World War produced a set-back in India's exports of cashew kernels, but after the end of the war the industry quickly re-established itself and with a steady flow of raw cashewnuts from the East African producing countries to supplement the indigenous production, exports started growing. The growth in subsequent years almost until 1975 was indeed phenomenal. Right from the beginning, the fillip for the growth of the Indian Cashew Industry was provided largely by the Importers and Salters in the U.S.A. who developed a consumer taste for the nut and built up a flourishing business in the roasting and salting of various kinds of tree nuts. For many years | |
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