The Vietnam Cashew Association inked three memoranda of understandingwith its African partners at a conference for international customers inthe cashew sector in Ho Chi Minh City on November 28.

The partners include the Association of Cashew Exporters in Ivory Coast,the National Cashew Association of Nigeria and the National Council ofBenin Cashew Exporters.

Another eight agreements were also reached by cashew exporters and importers at the event.

According to President of the Vietnam Cashew Association Nguyen DucThanh, Vietnam has processed about one million tonnes of raw cashewnuts annually for the past two years.

However, the countrywas able to manage about 600,000 tonnes of materials, leaving theremaining for imports from Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia and Western Africancountries, he said.

African delegates told the conferencethat many big cashew exporters such as Ivory Coast , Guinea Bissau andNigeria hope to see Vietnamese businesses’ investment in cashew nutprocessing technologies in their countries.

They cited theNigerian Government’s preferential policies towards foreign investors inprocessing cashew nuts and shells, offering an exemption of corporateincome tax in the first five years and lowering taxes on machinery andequipment imports to zero percent.

The Ivory Coast sideexpressed their hope for cooperation with Vietnamese businesses, sayingthey are willing to offer tax and price incentives for investors inprocessing technologies.

Recently, many Vietnamese businesseshave turned their eyes towards the export of cashew nut processingtechnologies to Africa through the assistance and transfer ofmachinery and technologies.

Vietnam’s cashew sector isexpected to export 250,000 tonnes of cashew nuts this year, grossingaround 1.55 billion USD.-VNA