Global Cashew Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends And Forecast (2025 - 2030)

Global Cashew Market Trends and Insights

Rising Consumption of Cashew Nuts as a Healthy Snack

Global disposable income growth and increasing awareness of wellness are driving tree-nut snacking into mainstream retail markets. China’s tree-nut intake is rising 5% a year, with per-capita use forecast to reach 1 kilogram by 2030, nearly double 2023 levels ^{[2]Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service, “China Tree Nuts Annual 2024,” fas.usda.gov}. United States and European retailers favor cashews for their creamy taste, spurring steady shelf turnover and allowing certified organic kernels to earn 15-20% premiums. Indian cities mirror the trend as disposable income rises, tightening global kernel inventories and underpinning robust price floors. These demand shifts reinforce positive momentum for the cashew commodity market.

Increasing Government Incentives for Tree-Nut Cultivation

West African governments are rolling out fertilizer subsidies, seedling distribution, and farm-gate price floors to lift smallholder incomes and diversify export baskets. Farm-gate price floors in Côte d’Ivoire climbed 7% year on year in 2025, and India’s National Horticulture Mission channels subsidized seedlings and credit to new orchards. Burkina Faso likewise raised its minimum purchase price to 385 CFA francs (USD 0.63) per kilogram to encourage production. Such policies extend planting into underutilized savannas and add long-term lift to raw-nut supply.

Expanding Vegan and Flexitarian Food-Processing Demand

Cashews are gaining traction as feedstock for plant-based cheese, creamer, and yogurt applications. Their natural emulsification capacity supports clean-label formulations without synthetic stabilizers. Content, letting brands create cheeses, creamers, and yogurts without gums or phosphates. Cashews’ 45% lipid and natural starch enable dairy-free cheeses, creamers, and yogurts without synthetic stabilizers. Pilot work shows cashew bases ferment 18% faster than almond alternatives and hold 12% higher viscosity, yielding smoother textures. The plant-based dairy segment is on track to surpass USD 8 billion in 2025, and cashews capture the fastest-growing share of new launches.

Mechanized Shelling Boosting Kernel Recovery Rates

Processing hubs in Vietnam and India report kernel-grade recovery gains of 2 to 4% points after adopting optical sorting and deep-learning grading systems. Automated lines reduce breakage, enhance food-safety consistency, and offset rising labor costs, which supports sustained margins for integrated processors. AI-guided optical sorters lifted Vietnamese kernel yields from 48% to 52% on identical raw-nut lots, adding 8% revenue per ton while lowering breakage events by 30%. Indian processors report similar gains, allowing them to absorb a 9% rise in labor costs and stay within European quality thresholds.

Climate Volatility in Key West African Belts

Rainfall in Côte d’Ivoire’s Zanzan region fell 112 mm since the 1990s while heat days climbed 17%, reducing nut set and driving raw-nut prices from USD 1,000 to USD 1,500 per ton during the 2024 shortfall. Average rainfall in Côte d’Ivoire’s Zanzan zone fell 112 millimeters between 1981 and 2020, while heat days above 35 °C increased 17%, cutting nut set and driving raw-nut prices from USD 1,000 to USD 1,500 per metric ton during the 2024 shortfall. Limited adoption of mulching and shade trees leaves yields exposed and magnifies supply risk for processors.

Stringent Food-Quality and Pesticide-Residue Regulations

European Union maximum residue limits and the United States Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) traceability rules are raising compliance costs for emerging exporters. Smaller processors struggle to finance laboratory testing, nudging the cashew market toward larger, well-capitalized suppliers that can certify chain of custody documentation. The European Union lowered endosulfan limits to 0.05 mg/kg in 2024, and the United States traceability mandates, effective 2026, will require electronic data capture at every node ^{[3]Source: CBI, “Entering the European Market for Cashew Nuts,” cbi.eu} . Compliance testing adds USD 20–25 per metric ton, a burden that pushes smaller exporters toward cooperative models or exit.

Segment Analysis

By Form: In-Shell Surge and Kernel Dominance Shape the Market

The shelled (kernels) segment accounted for 43.0% of the cashew market share in 2024, converting raw nuts into high-margin whole whites for export snack channels. Vietnamese and Indian processors moved more than USD 5.8 billion in kernel exports last year, underscoring the economic gravity of ready-to-eat grades in the cashew commodity market. Deepening mechanization raised average kernel recovery rates from 48% to 52%, which in turn lifted the cashew commodity market size captured by processors even when raw-nut arrivals fluctuated. The segment also benefits from Vietnam’s proximity to Cambodian supply, where an outlay of USD 1.0 billion on raw nuts in 2024 kept factories fed and export contracts intact. Stable demand in the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands provided a predictable off-take that anchors processor investment plans.

In-shell cashews delivered the fastest trajectory with an 11.4% CAGR outlook through 2030, supported by direct-to-consumer online retailers that highlight freshness and minimal processing. Start-ups in the North American and European markets hand-cracked products that command a 25% price premium over equivalent kernel weights. Burkina Faso’s 2025 export ban on raw nuts may tighten global in-shell supply in the near term, motivating artisan roasters to establish forward contracts with Ghanaian and Nigerian farmers. Increased interest in home roasting and transparent sourcing places in-shell offerings in the spotlight, reshaping product portfolios for distributors who once depended solely on processed kernels. Together, these dynamics indicate that processors and growers able to toggle between in-shell and kernel sales stand to optimize revenues across demand cycles, reinforcing resilience within the broader cashew market.

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

Geography Analysis

Asia-Pacific holds 62.5% of global output in 2024, and the region’s cashew market size is forecast to expand at a 7.5% CAGR through 2030. India’s 782,000 metric tons harvest feeds both a rapid 7% annual rise in domestic snacking and large kernel shipments into the United States' natural-foods aisle. Vietnam processed 347,634 metric tons, previously importing nearly 790,000 metric tons from Cambodia, Guinea-Bissau, and Tanzania to keep its high-capacity plants running. Mechanized shelling lines in Binh Phuoc recently reached throughputs of 20 metric tons per day, enabling processors to preserve competitive freight terms even after a 9% wage climb. Chinese demand forms an additional pillar, per-capita nut consumption is on the path to hit 1 kilogram by 2030, nearly doubling the 2023 baseline.

The Middle East will log the highest regional import growth at 7.4% CAGR as Gulf consumers migrate toward premium nut-based snacks and plant-based milk. New roasting facilities in Dubai and Riyadh have contracted multi-year supply agreements with Indian exporters to guarantee year-round inventory. North America relies almost entirely on imports, and the 46% tariff on Vietnamese kernels has already redirected procurement toward India and West Africa, keeping the cashew commodity market fluid. Europe advances at 4.3% CAGR on robust demand for fair-trade and organic labels, with Germany operating as a continental hub through Hamburg and Rotterdam ports. Combined, these regional storylines show that diversified supply and processing footprints remain essential to meet expanding global appetites for cashew-based foods and materials.

Africa generated 23.1% of the world supply but posted the quickest climb at 6.7% CAGR, anchored by Côte d’Ivoire’s 1.04 million metric tons crop. Government price guarantees and subsidized seedling programs moved to plant into Guinea and Benin savannas, and the Prosper Cashew project in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria delivered on-site training that increased processing yields by 3 percentage points. Local conversion, however, still captures only about 10% of raw nuts, leaving most value addition offshore. Climate volatility remains the key regional risk, a 112-millimeter rainfall shortfall in the Zanzan zone triggered a 50% leap in farm-gate prices during 2024.