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Top Cashews Exports & Imports by Country Plus Average Prices

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Cashew nuts
Cashew nuts
In 2024, exports of cashew nuts generated a total US$7.2 billion in international sales.

Worldwide sales of exported cashews increased by 11.3% compared to 5 years earlier in 2020 when cashew exports totaled $6.5 billion.

Year over year, overall export revenues from selling the richly and nutty flavored seed flatlined via a -0.6% slowdown compared to $7.3 billion in 2023.

Prized by consumers as snack nuts, cashews seeds come from the fruits of large tropical evergreen trees as tall as 46 feet (14 meters). Cashew nut oil is used in cooking and salad dressings. Cashews are also key ingredients to make cashew butter.

Geographic Insights about Cashew Exports & Imports

By value, the 5 biggest exporters of cashews (Vietnam, Africa’s Ivory Coast, Cambodia, Tanzania and India) sold well over two-thirds (72.8%) of all cashews exported during 2024.

Applying a continental perspective, countries in Asia supplied the highest dollar worth of exported cashews during 2024 with shipments valued at $3.96 billion or 54.8% of the global total. In second place were exporters in Africa (35.7%) trailed by those in Europe (8.5%), Latin America (0.6%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, North America (0.3%), and Oceania (0.005%) led by Australia and New Zealand.

Shifting our focus to imports, the 5 leading importers of cashews in 2024 were India, Vietnam, United States of America, Germany and the Netherlands. Collectively, that quintet of most valuable import countries bought over two-thirds (67.5%) of globally imported cashews as measured by dollar value.

The above percentages suggest the total 114 exporting countries for cashews (72.8% for the corresponding top 5 exporters) is a more concentrated cohort compared to 191 buying countries, islands and territories. At 67.5%, the top 5 importers accounted for a smaller portion of the world total for imported cashews.

As for continental data for global imports of cashews, almost three-fifths (57.8%) of cashews purchased on international markets was delivered to customers in Asia ahead of the percentage share for importers in Europe (23.1%), North America (16%), Oceania (1.6%) led by Australia, Africa (0.8%), and Latin America (0.7%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.

Average Global Prices for Cashew Imports by Type

We calculated the average unit price paid by importers of cashews still in-shell to be $1,066 per ton in 2024. That dollar amount reflects a -20% decline from the average tonnage rate of $1,333 during 2023.

Unsurprisingly, exports of shelled cashews demand a higher unit price. For shelled cashews, the average unit price paid by importers was $5,685 per ton in 2024 down by -12.2% from the average tonnage rate of $6,474 for 2023. The higher average price for shelled cashews results in part from labor costs and other shell-removal processing expenses.

For research purposes, the 6-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 080131 for fresh or dried cashew nuts in shell, and 080132 for fresh or dried shelled cashew nuts.

Drilling down on those categories, over three-fifths (62%) of cashews exported worldwide by dollar value was for shelled cashews. The remaining 38% was paid for cashews in shell, down from 39.3% one year earlier.

Top Cashews Exports by Country

Below are the top 20 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of cashews during 2024, regardless of whether the shipped cashews were in-shell or shelled.

  1. Vietnam: US$2.9 billion (39.5% of total exported cashews)
  2. Ivory Coast: $1.2 billion (16.6%)
  3. Cambodia: $502.6 million (7%)
  4. Tanzania: $352.8 million (4.9%)
  5. India: $344.2 million (4.8%)
  6. Netherlands: $338.7 million (4.7%)
  7. Ghana: $211 million (2.9%)
  8. Guinea-Bissau: $198.2 million (2.7%)
  9. Germany: $166.6 million (2.3%)
  10. Nigeria: $128.1 million (1.8%)
  11. Indonesia: $126.4 million (1.8%)
  12. Mozambique: $117.3 million (1.6%)
  13. Burkina Faso: $111.5 million (1.5%)
  14. Guinea: $100.5 million (1.4%)
  15. Senegal: $91.9 million (1.3%)
  16. Benin: $47.5 million (0.7%)
  17. Türkiye: $44.5 million (0.6%)
  18. Brazil: $43.9 million (0.6%)
  19. Myanmar: $27 million (0.4%)
  20. Belgium: $26.5 million (0.4%)

By value, the listed 20 countries shipped 97.4% of globally exported cashews in 2024.

Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing cashews exporters since 2023 were: Guinea-Bissau (up 187.8%), Myanmar (up 132.4%), Indonesia (up 130.8%) and Türkiye (up 80.3%).

Those countries that posted declines in their exported cashews sales were led by: Nigeria (down -60.9%), Benin (down -57.6%), Brazil (down -36.1%), Senegal (down -30.8%) and Germany (down -18.9%).

Top Cashews Imports by Country

Overall spending on imported cashews was a reported $7.28 billion for 2024. That dollar metric reflects a 53.8% acceleration from $6.7 billion five years earlier in 2020. Starting from $8.2 billion for 2023, total purchases of imported cashews dropped by -11.2% year over year.

Below are the 20 best buying markets as measured by the highest dollar value worth of cashews imported during 2024, for any cashews regardless of whether shelled or not.

  1. India: US$1.6 billion (22.6% of total imported cashews)
  2. Vietnam: $1.4 billion (19.8%)
  3. United States: $1.1 billion (14.8%)
  4. Germany: $429.1 million (5.9%)
  5. Netherlands: $316.2 million (4.3%)
  6. mainland China: $236.9 million (3.3%)
  7. Türkiye: $167.9 million (2.3%)
  8. United Kingdom: $143.2 million (2%)
  9. United Arab Emirates: $142.1 million (2%)
  10. France: $136.4 million (1.9%)
  11. Spain: $131 million (1.8%)
  12. Saudi Arabia: $110.8 million (1.5%)
  13. Australia: $99.4 million (1.4%)
  14. Italy: $90.2 million (1.2%)
  15. Canada: $89.7 million (1.2%)
  16. Poland: $84.8 million (1.2%)
  17. Thailand: $81.1 million (1.1%)
  18. Japan: $80.4 million (1.1%)
  19. Israel: $50.4 million (0.7%)
  20. Belgium: $43.9 million (0.6%)

By value, the listed 20 countries bought 90.6% of globally imported cashews in 2024.

Among the top importers, the fastest-growing cashews importers since 2023 were: Poland (up 33.2%), Israel (up 32.3%), Türkiye (up 29.2%) and the United States of America (up 27.3%).

Those countries that posted declines in their imported cashews purchases were led by: Vietnam (down -47.6%), United Arab Emirates (down -32.7%), Japan (down -11%), mainland China (down -7.5%) and Belgium (down -6.5%).

Imported In-Shell Cashews: Lowest and Highest Unit Prices

In 2024, the world’s average unit price for imports of in-shell cashews was US$1,204 per ton inflating by 30.4% compared to $923 per ton for 2023.

Ranked in ascending order, listed below are the countries paying the lowest average unit prices for imported in-shell cashews in 2024.

  1. Gambia: US$49 per ton (down -18.3% from 2023)
  2. Timor-Leste: $450 per ton (up 35.1%)
  3. Togo: $558 per ton (up 1.1%)
  4. Madagascar: $631 per ton (up 94.2%)
  5. Tokelau: $690 per ton (2023 data unavailable)
  6. Benin: $719 per ton (up 5.3%)
  7. Bangladesh: $743 per ton (2023 data unavailable)
  8. Philippines: $747 per ton (down -20.6%)
  9. Kazakhstan: $766 per ton (2023 data unavailable)
  10. Burkina Faso: $900 per ton (up 11.9%)
  11. Chad: $906 per ton (2023 data unavailable)
  12. Colombia: $1,077 per ton (2023 data unavailable)
  13. Ivory Coast: $1,079 per ton (up 1.4%)
  14. Thailand: $1,097 per ton (up 30.9%)
  15. Mozambique: $1,109 per ton (up 35.1%)

There were 2 double-digit reductions in average unit price paid per ton for in-shell cashews from 2023 to 2024. These were low-cost importers in the Philippines (down -20.6% from 2023) and Gambia (down -18.3%).

The following countries paid the highest average unit prices for imported in-shell cashews.

  1. Brazil: US$15,000 per ton (up 15.4% from 2023)
  2. Sri Lanka: $12,667 per ton (down -9.5%)
  3. Lebanon: $12,667 per ton (2023 data unavailable)
  4. Costa Rica: $12,000 per ton (2023 data unavailable)
  5. Austria: $11,000 per ton (2023 data unavailable)
  6. Belgium: $10,590 per ton (up 6.4%)
  7. Saudi Arabia: $9,200 per ton (up 74%)
  8. Poland: $9,000 per ton (2023 data unavailable)
  9. Italy: $8,200 per ton (up 7%)
  10. France: $7,000 per ton (down -6.7%)
  11. Denmark: $6,222 per ton (up 24.4%)
  12. Germany: $6,169 per ton (down -3.9%)
  13. South Africa: $6,000 per ton (up 25%)
  14. Afghanistan: $5,647 per ton (up 41.2%)
  15. United States: $4,442 per ton (down -29.1%)

The greatest increases in terms of higher average unit prices in 2024 compared to 2023 were paid by importers in Saudi Arabia (up 74%), Afghanistan (up 41.2%), South Africa (up 25%), Denmark (up 24.4%) and Brazil (up 15.4%).

Imported Shelled Cashews: Lowest and Highest Unit Prices

In 2024, the world’s average unit price for imports of shelled cashews was US$5,873 per ton inflating by 12.3% from an average $5,232 per ton for 2023.

Ranked in ascending order, listed below are the countries paying the lowest average unit prices for cashews imported in 2024 with shells already removed.

  1. Gambia: US$51 per ton (up 8.5% from 2023)
  2. Kyrgyzstan: $134 per ton (down -94.2%)
  3. Togo: $834 per ton (down -14.9%)
  4. Uzbekistan: $1,104 per ton (up 65.5%)
  5. Kazakhstan: $1,106 per ton (down -34.7%)
  6. Iran: $1,120 per ton (down -20%)
  7. Madagascar: $1,248 per ton (down -69.7%)
  8. Egypt: $1,688 per ton (2023 data unavailable)
  9. Benin: $1,879 per ton (down -60.7%)
  10. South Korea: $2,333 per ton (down -61.1%)
  11. Mozambique: $2,996 per ton (down -17.7%)
  12. Ukraine: $3,000 per ton (2023 data unavailable)
  13. Burkina Faso: $3,419 per ton (down -44%)
  14. Afghanistan: $3,586 per ton (down -49.8%)
  15. Mali: $3,783 per ton (up 15.1%)

The greatest reductions in average unit price paid per ton for shelled cashews belong to low-cost importers in Kyrgyzstan (down -94.2% from 2023), Madagascar (down -69.7%), South Korea (down -61.1%), Benin (down -60.7%) and Afghanistan (down -49.8%).

The following countries paid the highest average unit prices for imported cashews without their shells.

  1. Jordan: US$20,333 per ton (up 195.5% from 2023)
  2. Malta: $16,000 per ton (2023 data unavailable)
  3. Cyprus: $12,000 per ton (2023 data unavailable)
  4. Honduras: $11,717 per ton (up 0.4%)
  5. Portugal: $11,000 per ton (up 110.6%)
  6. Syria: $10,700 per ton (up 65.3%)
  7. Ethiopia: $10,000 per ton (2023 data unavailable)
  8. Romania: $10,000 per ton (up 8.1%)
  9. Kuwait: $10,000 per ton (up 1.9%)
  10. Sri Lanka: $9,788 per ton (down -30.2%)
  11. Costa Rica: $9,680 per ton (2023 data unavailable)
  12. Armenia: $9,636 per ton (down -1.2%)
  13. Finland: $9,500 per ton (up 18.8%)
  14. Austria: $9,471 per ton (down -6.4%)
  15. Myanmar: $9,452 per ton (up 4.4%)

Strongest inflation in terms of higher average unit prices paid in 2024 compared to 2023 were experienced by importers of shelled cashews in Jordan (up 195.5%), Portugal (up 110.6%), Syria (up 65.3%) and Finland (up 18.8%).

See also Top Peanuts Exports & Imports by Country Plus Average Prices, Top Almonds Exporters by Country, Top Walnut Exporters by Country, Top Pistachios Exports & Imports by Country Plus Average Prices, Top Hazelnuts Exports & Imports by Country Plus Average Prices and Top Brazil Nuts Exports & Imports by Country Plus Average Prices

Research Sources:
Alibaba, Cashew Showroom. Accessed on May 26, 2025

Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on May 26, 2025

International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 26, 2025

Wikipedia, Cashew. Accessed on May 26, 2025

Wikipedia, Cashew business in Kollam. Accessed on May 26, 2025