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News.aweb/2004/, Thailand12/22/9591717.

Indian cashew farming online/technology/fruit /703/ Huan 3

Cashew processing industry in India

Cashew nut is one of the important horticultural crops in India, which has high commercial value. Cashews that can be exported in large quantities to earn foreign exchange generally need to be processed before they can become shelf goods. Cashew nut processing center produces two kinds of cashew nut products: cashew nut kernel and cashew nut shell liquid, and cashew kernel is the main product.

In India, the processing industry generally started in the form of small family workshops and gradually developed into a well-organized labor-intensive industry over time. Due to the steady growth of the world demand for cashew nuts, cashew nut processing has become a high-profit industry.

There are about 1 132 cashew processing plants in India, with more than 350,000 workers and an annual output of 700,000 tons. India is the world's largest producer, processor and exporter of cashew nuts. Cashew kernel is exported to more than 60 countries in the world, mainly including the United States, European countries, Canada, Japan, Australia and Middle East countries. 1997- 1998, India exported 76,000 tons of cashew nuts and 4,000 tons of cashew nut shell liquid, which was equivalent to 1 390.64 million rupees (1USD = 12.52 rupees).

1. Production

The planting area of cashew nuts in India is 659,000 hectares, and the output of raw cashew nuts is 360,000 tons. The main producing areas are Kerala (1 19000 hectares), Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa and Tamil Nadu, with a small amount of production in Telipuna, Meghala yabang and Madhya Pradesh.

2. Market consumption

For 70 years, India has maintained its monopoly position in the world cashew nut trade market. But now, in some promising markets. For example, Hongkong, Taiwan Province Province, Japan, China, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam all show the momentum of competition with them. However, Indian cashew exporters believe that Vietnam does not pose a threat to them. The only problem is to ensure that there are enough raw cashews to meet the processing needs. At least 40% of cashew nuts exported by India are shipped to the United States, and another 40% are exported to European countries. Excessive dependence on one or two markets is detrimental to any commodity in world trade. This will make it impossible to obtain good prices for commodity trade. Therefore, Indian businessmen have been studying market strategies to consolidate traditional markets and develop new markets.

3. Process

Cashew nuts are kidney-shaped and consist of a thick leather shell, a thin brown seed coat and nuts. Cashew processing is to take out edible cashew kernel manually or mechanically, and the processing procedure is as follows:

Drying: the raw cashews are dried in the sun for 2-3 days until the water content drops to a certain required level.

Cooking or baking: Cooking or baking dried raw cashews until the shell is cracked and the nuts are separated from the shell.

Shelling: There are two methods to shell: manual and mechanical. Manual method can produce 15-20kg per person per working day (8 hours), and the integrity rate of cashew kernel can reach 90%. The mechanical sheller consists of two blades. The raw cashew nuts are inserted between the blades, and the operating lever is started to drive the blades to close, squeeze the cashew nuts and break the shell. The output of mechanical hulling method is 20-22 kg per person per working day, and the whole fruit rate is as high as 96%.

Drying of nuts: after the nuts are separated from the shell, they are dried to reduce the moisture content and loosen the adhered seed coat.

Peeling: the seed coat on the kernel is removed manually, and the average output per person per working day is 9- 10 kg.

Grading and humidity control: Nuts are graded according to the Export Quality Management and Supervision Act (1963), with a total of 25 grades. Nuts should be humidity controlled before packaging. If nuts are too dry during packaging, they are easily broken during transportation. If nuts are too wet (> 75%) when packaged, they are easy to be moldy or oxidized.

Packaging: cashew kernel has the characteristic of absorbing moisture in the air, so the oxygen permeability and moisture permeability of packaging must be low. Generally, vacuum packaging or carbon dioxide packaging can be used.

The final product of processing is mainly cashew kernel. In addition, cashew shell liquid can be extracted from cashew shell, and seed coat can be used to produce dyes.

From raw cashews to packaged nuts, the whole processing process takes 7 days. The yield of raw cashew nuts is 24%.

bale

More than 99% of cashew kernel in the market are sold in bulk or in cans, the canned capacity is 4 gallons, the net content is 1 1.34kg, and it is filled with carbon dioxide. Recently, some new cashew nut processing plants have improved the packaging level and adopted small packages filled with carbon dioxide. Exporters should make more efforts in this respect, popularize small-capacity packaging, and increase the products of flavored nuts if possible, which can increase the added value of goods.

5. Research on cashew processing enterprises

This study aims to promote banks to share market risks with the industry. The Managaro area in Karnataka is chosen as the research point, which is a cashew nut processing intensive area. The results are as follows:

5 1 seasonality

Cashew nuts are seasonal crops. In India, cashews are harvested from January to May. Processing producers generally obtain raw cashews in four ways: buying them directly from growers; Buy from the local market; Purchase through agents; Imported from other cashew nut producing countries. Generally, agents are entrusted to buy because small manufacturers control domestic production. Just like other processing industries, the production efficiency of cashew nut processing industry depends largely on the quality of raw materials. The weight and moisture content of each raw cashew will seriously affect the quality of the final product. Therefore, the moisture content that determines the quality and the specified weight standard are the considerations for processors to choose and adjust the price of raw materials. Processors usually conduct the following tests when purchasing raw materials:

Sensory test: select the size, color and maturity of nuts.

Float test: put the sample in a container filled with water. You can measure the percentage of mixed fruit and bad fruit.

Cutting test: cut the sample fruit by hand and calculate the proportion of nuts.

Most producers try to buy enough raw materials in their own harvest season, because the quality of raw cashews in India is better than that of imported cashews. The output of raw cashew nuts in India (364,000 tons) can't meet the needs of processing and production (700,000 tons), so in the non-harvest season, raw cashew nuts should be imported to make up for the shortage. 1996- 1997, India imported about192,000 tons of raw cashews.

Moisture content and weight standard are important indexes for processors to purchase raw cashews. Indian raw cashews are superior to imported cashews in these two indexes, and it is easier to ensure the quality stability of products. General processors buy local raw cashews in May, otherwise the raw materials will not be easy to dry in the monsoon rainy season in June, which will seriously affect the smooth progress of the production process. The proportion of raw materials imported by processing plants shall not exceed 20% to ensure product quality. Due to the shortage of raw cashews in India. So it is inevitable to import raw cashews. However, both processors and investment bankers should ensure that the goods are imported from reputable and experienced importers.

5.2 Utilization of productive forces

The inventory level of raw cashew nuts affects the productivity and utilization rate of processing centers. As mentioned above, it takes 7 days from raw cashews to finished products. The processing capacity of the processing plant is calculated according to the daily consumption of raw cashews, while the raw cashews are calculated according to bags, each standard bag is 75 kg. The yield from raw cashews to bagged cashews is generally 22%-24%, which varies with the quality of raw cashews. The formula for calculating the annual output of a processing unit is as follows:

6. Daily processing capacity x monthly working days x l2 February

Note: The average daily working hours are 8 hours and the average monthly working days are 25 days.

Cashew processing is closely related to the harvest season. Due to the short season, the processing unit tries to store raw cashews in the current season and then process them after the harvest season. Although non-seasonal processing can use imported raw materials, it is observed that the annual start-up time of most cashew processing units is only 8 months or 200 days.

The annual productivity utilization rate of cashew processing units is generally 66%. Many processing units cannot achieve the balance between mechanical output and manual output. Due to over-reliance on manual operation, the output of high-quality products in many processing units is limited. All these factors will affect the yield and quality of the final product. Therefore, banks no longer subsidize the establishment of new processing plants, but invest in existing factories to realize their modernization:

1) approved by the pollution control bureau to install a new boiler.

2) Set up a new heating chamber to adapt to the improvement of productivity, improve product quality and reduce labor.

3) Improve the working environment for the manual operation workshop, such as preparing better chairs for the workers in the screening workshop, which can improve the working efficiency by at least 20%.

4) Install modern packaging production line.

Export of cashew products in India and import of raw cashew nuts

age

cashew

Such as nut shell liquid

Raw cashew nuts

volume of exports

(ton)

Export amount

(65438+ million rupees)

Export volume (ton)

Export amount

(65438+ million rupees)

Import volume (ton)

Import value (over 654.38 million rupees)

1989/990

45632

36635

2689

250

5959 1

8286

1990/ 199 1

49874

44224

5658

556

82639

13400

199 1/ 1992

47738

66909

4542

402

106080

26668

1992/ 1993

53436

74549

4258

38 1

134985

37633

1993/ 1994

69884

104602

3625

290

19 1322

48270

1994/ 1995

77000

124602

3807

244

228 109

69094

1995/ 1996

70334

124050

760

145

2228 19

76008

1996/ 1997

68663

128550

1735

277

192285

64060

1997/ 1998

76593

1396 10

4446

7 17

224968

74400

1998/ 1999

75026

160990

1572

326

18 1009

68024

7. Conclusion

1) Like other agricultural products processing, cashew processing has a seasonal validity period and the price of raw materials is changeable. Like other agricultural products, the output of raw cashew nuts is greatly affected by climate factors, and there will be a shortage of raw materials every four years. Therefore, solving the above problems is the key to the smooth operation of cashew processing industry. Prudent banks will carefully consider these negative factors.

2) This study shows that providing sufficient working capital to processing enterprises in time can improve the efficiency of enterprises.

3) In order to meet the demand of working capital, the calculation must be based on the price of raw materials that the factory can bear.

4) In the cyclical four-year shortage of raw materials, many processing plants even experience capital loss. In this case, banks should take the initiative to extend the credit period, change current loans into term loans, and redefine the responsibilities of existing term loans.

5) This study found that cashew nut processing industry still has potential to be tapped, and providing sufficient operating funds to existing processing enterprises to help them realize modernization can greatly improve productivity and production efficiency.

Jiang translated from Cash L999 (3): 4 1-50]