Narrator: Cashews grow in select tropical climates
around the world
from the bottom of a hanging fruit like this.
Just 1 kilogram of cashews can cost $10 wholesale.
That's over seven times as much as peanuts.
And in the US, retail prices for whole cashews
can reach $15 per pound.
But without intensive, precise processing,
these nuts wouldn't be edible at all.
So how exactly are cashews processed?
And is this what makes them so expensive?
In 2017, the world ate
770,000 metric tons of cashews.
They're one of the most popular and valuable nuts
in the world, worth over $6 billion today.
Cashews grow in tropical locations like India,
Vietnam, Ivory Coast, and here, in Sri Lanka.
The trees are a member of the same family as poison ivy,
and like poison ivy,
cashew plants contain a toxin called urushiol.
It's found in the plant itself
and the brown oil inside a nut's shell.
It can cause burns, itches, and blisters,
which is why unprocessed cashews
are considered dangerous to eat or touch.
It's also why they require more rigorous processing
than other nuts.
Narrator: Each fruit grows just one shelled nut,
called a drupe, which workers separate by hand.
The nuts must then dry under the sun
to help draw out some of the shell's caustic liquid.
The most difficult and dangerous step
is splitting open the nut,
since toxic oil still coats the drupes.
Cashews are brittle,
so factories used to do this step manually
to ensure machines wouldn't break the nuts.
But doing this by hand has frequently raised issues
within the industry.
NGOs have called out some factories
for overworking employees and putting workers
at risk of burning themselves
if they can't afford to buy gloves for protection.
Today, machines are advanced enough
to crack the shells cleanly,
keeping the majority of nuts intact
and helping minimize risks to workers.
Narrator: After a machine splits open the shells,
the next two crucial stages totally depend on workers,
who have to do them by hand.
The nuts are roasted to ensure, again,
that the toxic liquid inside is destroyed.
The next stage is particularly tedious,
as it relies entirely on handiwork.
Workers must peel off the husk,
or the dry outer covering that surrounds each nut,
because it's high in tannins
and could irritate your throat.
Removing it is a skill one masters with practice.
Experienced workers de-skin only about
2.5 kilograms of cashews each night.
This step is not only difficult
but also has the biggest impact on price.
Narrator: Cashews are graded by several features,
like color, weight, and condition.
Large whole nuts are most valuable.
Narrator: Because cashews can only be harvested once a year,
growers like Lahiru save a portion of the nuts in stock
so that they can continue making a profit
in the months ahead.
But it comes at a steep cost.
Just stocking the nuts costs Lahiru
more than $65,000 each year.
Narrator: This causes prices
to fluctuate a bit year-round.
In December, Lahiru's supply has decreased,
so prices typically increase.
But it also depends on each country's supply chain.
While Sri Lanka processes and sells
many of its own cashews domestically,
other countries export much of what they grow.
It's likely that many of the cashews
you buy in the US or Europe
were grown in Africa, processed in Vietnam or India,
and finally exported to the Western market.
Africa produces half of the world's supply of cashews.
Ivory Coast, for example,
produced about 730,000 metric tons
of raw cashews in 2019.
But it exported over 90% of that.
This is because Ivory Coast and other African countries
still don't have a robust processing industry.
Ivory Coast plans to expand domestic processing by 2024.
But without it, cashews are significantly less valuable.
In 2018, the export price of cashews processed in India
and exported to Europe was 250% higher
than the price paid to Ivory Coast farmers.
Vietnam, on the other hand,
was one of the first countries to invest in automation,
making it a key location for processing cashews.
Today, Vietnam is the largest cashew exporter in the world.
In just the first three months of 2021,
the country exported over 108,000 tons of cashews.
Automation has also lessened the need to hire workers,
which is a reason many factories in India and Sri Lanka
still process manually.
Narrator: By hand or machine,
processing cashews is no easy task.
And the world's climate crisis could make it even harder.
A 2013 report on the climate's impact on cashews
shows unseasonal rains and heavy dew
can impact the quality and quantity of the nuts.
Just this year, Lahiru's harvest came late because of it.
Narrator: Amidst climate challenges,
cashews continue to be popular.
Healthy-eating trends are key to driving demand,
along with the versatility of the cashew itself --
another reason the nut remains so valuable.
Whether used as a snack, cooking paste,
or an alternative to milk or butter,
cashews have many applications around the world.
Researchers predict the market will grow
to $7 billion by 2025.
And although cashews are currently cheaper
than they've been in recent years,
demand is likely to drive prices higher in the future.