The Growing European Demand for Cashew Nuts

Healthier lifestyle choices, vegetarian diets, creative snack processing, and global production scale-ups are seeing Europe increase the importing and consumption of cashew nuts. The market has been growing significantly over the last decade, and this rise is set to continue into 2030.

Annual growth

European cashew nuts consumption is rising 5% yearly. Of the continent’s countries, Germany and the Netherlands are leading the pack.

Notably, Germany is Europe’s largest importer of the commodity, with an import value of €430 million in 2020. This figure represents 32% of all EU imports, and the market is growing 7.8% annually, reaching a milestone of 65,000 tonnes in 2020. The nation also contributes to continental trade, with approximately 30% of all imported cashew nuts being re-exported from Germany to other markets within Europe.

There is plenty of potential for emerging suppliers of cashew to Germany amid its ever-growing importing. Indonesia is a growing supplier in Asia, but it’s Africa where the opportunities primarily lay. The likes of Ghana Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Mozambique, Kenya, and Benin are all seeing chances in this field. Overall, Africa is expected to ramp up export to Germany over the next decade.

Main European consumers of cashews in tonnes. Source: ITC TradeMap & Eurostat via CIB

Heading west, the Netherlands closely follows Germany when it comes to cashew dominance. Impressively, the country has the highest per capita consumption across the globe with a figure of 2.68 kg a year in 2019. Altogether, the nation represents a total of 25% of its continent’s imports.

While Dutch imports fluctuated in the last five years, they peaked at 58 thousand tonnes, like Germany, the nation is also a major trader, exporting 70% of all cashew nut kernel imports across Europe.

Netherlands-bound cashew nuts mostly come from Vietnam, with just under 80% of imports arriving from the Asian country. India follows behind at just 8%. Nonetheless, there are grand prospects for African suppliers, with annual growth among the continent’s leading countries in this department. In 2020, Ivory Coast exported 735 tonnes, Ghana, exported 587 tonnes, and Burkina Faso exported 522 tonnes.

Main European imports of cashew nuts in tonnes. Source: ITC TradeMap & Eurostat via CIB

Intercontinental triumphs

All in all, the cashew trade is opening up doors across the international spectrum.

“The cashew tree is native to north-east Brazil, but today it is grown in many areas in the world. Currently, the northern hemisphere accounts for 80% of the world’s raw cashew nuts production compared with the southern hemisphere’s 20%. The largest production area is West Africa, with Ivory Coast as the leading producer. The second‑largest producer is India, followed by East African countries (with Tanzania as the top east African producer),” the Centre for the Promotion of Imports (CBI) shares.

“Production in East and West African countries is increasing significantly, but due to a lack of processing (shelling) capacities, African producers export the majority of their crops as in-shell cashew nuts to Vietnam and India. India and Vietnam are the two largest processors of cashew nuts, and the main suppliers of the world and the European market. The processing capacity in these two countries exceeds their crops, and so they both import a lot of in-shell cashew nuts primarily from Africa, but Vietnam is increasingly importing from Cambodia too.”

European imports of cashew nuts in tonnes. Source: ITC TradeMap & Eurostat via CIB

Looking ahead

From the United Kingdom and Spain to France and Italy, cashews are in high demand across Europe. The continent’s cashew market is anticipated to report a CAGR of 3.4% between 2020 and 2025.

With no local production, we can expect increased output across Asia and Africa. Suppliers and exporters will be focusing on keeping on top of demand this decade. Developing regions will undoubtedly be determined to grab a greater share of exports by the time the 2020s come to a close.