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Cashew manufacturers in Karnataka, who have been importing raw cashewnuts in containers, have now imported a consignment of around 22,000 tonnes in the break-bulk format. Break-bulk cargoes are typically imported in bags, crates, barrels, etc, rather than in containers.
K Prakash Rao, partner of Mangaluru-based Kalbavi Cashews and one of the importers of break-bulk raw cashewnut, told BusinessLine a team of manufactures came together to import around 22,000 tonnes of break-bulk cargo from Tanzania.
He said New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) is handling the commodity in the break-bulk format for the first time.
“In 2007, we managed to get a direct container vessel with raw cashewnuts from Mtwara Port in Tanzania to New Mangalore. That was for the first time a vessel with raw cashewnuts in containers sailed directly from port to port. This is for the first time we are getting 22,000 tonnes of bulk-cargo of raw cashewnuts from Mtwara to New Mangalore,” he said.
Terming it a great development, he said even small manufacturers in Karnataka will be serviced with such arrangements.
Trimming transport time
Subraya Pai, President of the Karnataka Cashew Manufacturers’ Association (KCMA), told BusinessLine that such arrangements will help bring down the transport time to Mangaluru.
He said the break-bulk consignment from Mtwara reached Mangaluru in 10 days. In containers, it takes 25 days to reach Mangaluru from destinations in East Africa, he added.
Prakash Rao said raw cashewnut imports have been growing in Karnataka over the past five years. The annual imports stood at around 70,000 tonnes about five years ago. Now the State is importing around 2 lakh tonnes of the commodity, he added.
Mechanisation and automation
With mechanisation and automation being implemented in cashew factories, the processing capacity will also be increased in the years to come. It is likely that cashew manufacturers in Karnataka will be importing over 3 lakh tonnes of raw cashewnuts in the next two years, he said.
NMPT handled around 1.46 lakh tonnes of raw cashewnuts in containers in April-January 2019-20, against 2.21 lakh tonnes in the previous-year period.
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