Do you have any pondering about the industry? Please share with us.

During 28 years of participation in VINACAS, I observed a tremendous growth of the industry. Talking about pondering, at the moment there are few things:

• I did not expect Vietnam cashew industry to grow with such incredible pace. Until now, I am still wondering if we actually surpassed India.

• Why the raw material from Cambodia increased that much? Is it because of their growing technology advancing to a new level?

• Why other export industries are shaking because of COVID-19, whereas cashew industry seems to be less vulnerable. Why do we have such a good immune system?

• Are we taking a right path when using cost leadership as a competitive strategy? I will talk about this a bit more. From the beginning until now, Vietnam cashew industry always has tended to apply cost leadership strategy. In my opinion, this strategy can easily knock-out competitors the most. Chinese enterprises like using it as well. Vietnam cashew industry used this strategy and seized the crown from India, not to mention about Brazil or Indonesia. There are no ways they can compete with us.

But I don’t think it this way. I think this strategy gives no one any benefits. Processors are pushed to sell out with low prices. Factories are reluctant to invest because they have to cut expenses down. Employees incomes can hardly be good. Consumers would not also be able to receive high quality products. So, I believe processors, exporters, roasters and retailers, which is the whole supply chain, should find a way which they can cooperate so that everyone can have their shares of benefits. When a joint in the supply chain is broken, the whole system would be affected. Nobody wants this.