Cashewnut processing in Kerala is in dire straights. The issue is related to obsolete machinery, a non-conducive import and export policy and price disparity have been affecting most processing industries in the country. Kerala has high labour costs and non availability of cashew. Indian cashew processing capacity is around 1.7 million tonnes, while Indian cashew production is around 0.7 million tonnes. In order to run the factories round the year, around 1.0 million tonnes of import was necessary for the country. Now in Union Budget for financial year 2019, the import duty has been reduced from 5.0% to 2.5%
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