With a record export value of 5.229 billion USD in 2025, cashew nuts have for the first time surpassed the 5 billion USD mark, becoming Viet Nam's third largest agricultural product. Notably, China has overtaken the US to become the number one import market.

China takes the number one spot.

Viet Nam's cashew industry just concluded 2025 with impressive figures, marking a new chapter in its export history. According to the latest data from the General Department of Customs, in December 2025 alone, cashew exports reached US$466 million, a sharp increase of 29% compared to the same period.

This impressive surge brought the total export value for the year to $5.229 billion, officially placing cashew nuts in the "$5 billion club" alongside fruits and vegetables, coffee, and rice.

This is the second consecutive year that the cashew industry has broken records in terms of export value. While 2024 marked the first time the figure reached $4 billion, just one year later, it increased by nearly $1 billion. In terms of volume, 2025 also recorded a new record with 766,585 tons, a 5.7% increase compared to 2024.

Amidst declining rice exports, cashew nuts have risen to third place among key agricultural products, behind only coffee (US$8.9 billion) and fruits and vegetables (US$8.56 billion).

The most significant highlight in the export picture over the past year is the shift in the positions of trading partners. For the first time in history, China surpassed the US to become Viet Nam's largest cashew nut consumer market with a turnover of $1.115 billion.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade , in the first 11 months of 2025 alone, exports to China increased by 35.5% in volume and, more significantly, by nearly 50% in value. This surge in exports to the billion-person market effectively offset the decline in the US market (a 17% decrease in value over the same 11 months). With these results, China has become the second "billion-dollar" market for Viet Nam's cashew industry, after the US.

Internal strength from technology and concerns about importing raw materials.

Despite achieving high export turnover, the cashew industry still retains the characteristics of a large-scale processing industry. In 2025, Viet Nam will spend $4.5 billion to import more than 2.9 million tons of raw cashews. Thus, the industry's trade surplus will reach over $700 million.

VINACAS recognizes this achievement as the culmination of a sustained transformation from a social welfare objective to a multi-billion dollar industry. In this process, technology plays a crucial role. Following national science and technology projects on the development of automatic shelling machines (2010-2011), the cashew industry has moved away from manual labor, increased productivity, and met the most stringent standards of the EU and Japan.

Despite holding a leading position in cashew processing globally, Viet Nam's cashew industry still faces its "Achilles' heel": dependence on imported raw materials. Currently, domestic supply only meets about 10% of production needs, with the remainder entirely dependent on Africa and Cambodia.

To address this problem, in 2026, VINACAS, along with relevant ministries and agencies, is accelerating a strategy to restore raw material areas in the Central Highlands and Southeast Viet Nam. Recommendations to tighten technical barriers to imported cashew kernels and a program to replant high-yield cashew varieties are expected to create a breakthrough.

"The goal of the cashew industry in the coming period is not just to reach the $5 billion mark, but to increase added value, build a national brand, and move Vietnamese cashews further into the deeply processed product segment, instead of just exporting raw products as is currently the case," the VINACAS leader affirmed.

Source: DTiNews