Hanoi, Oct 1 : Vietnam's cashew nut exports face the risk of a trade deficit due to higher raw material prices, local media reported on Tuesday, citing experts.

The export turnover of Vietnam's cashew nuts has maintained growth, but the gap between export value and import turnover of raw materials has gradually narrowed, reports Xinhua, quoting Vietnam News.

According to the General Department of Customs, Vietnam exported more than 486,000 tons of cashew nuts in the first eight months of this year, earning nearly $2.8 billion, but the country spent more than $2.3 billion importing raw cashew nuts.

As the world's leading country in processing cashew nuts, Vietnam has a large number of factories, but the domestic raw material area is reducing, only meeting about 10 to 12 per cent of the demand for raw cashew nuts for those factories. Most of the raw materials have to be imported from Africa and Cambodia.

/IANS