An official from the state-run Vietnam Cashew Association said some producers were looking for raw cashew supplies from other countries, mostly from Africa.

"Some 2,000 tonnes were shipped to Vietnam from Africa last week," he said. "Besides that there was a small supply of raw nuts from Cambodia but we do not have details of the deals."

Vietnam suffers from an over-capacity in cashew processing, with 50 processing plants with a combined annual capacity of 200,000 tonnes based on one eight-hour shift a day.

Estimated yields from this year's crop were revised down in March to around 100,000-110,000 tonnes against previous hopes of 150,000-160,000 tonnes, the official said.

A long drought earlier in the year in the main cashew-growing areas of southern Vietnam was the main cause for the drop, he added.

"Weknow for sure that some 80,000 tonnes (of raw nuts) from local supplies have been used so far," the official said.

Vietnam's cashew harvest normally starts in February and ends in May before the rainy season arrives. The country has 268,000 hectares (662,228 acres) under cultivation, official figures show.

The industry had previously announced that it hoped to import 70,000 tonnes of unshelled cashews this year.

Quotations for unshelled cashew nuts range between $760-1,100 per tonne, C&F Saigon Port, depending on the quality of the nuts, while offers of processed nuts were put at $4,700-4,800 per tonne, FOB Saigon Port, the official said.

A producer in the key cashew-growing province of Binh Duong told Reuters that a local firm had imported about 1,000 tonnes of raw nuts to help keep its plant operational.

The Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper reported on Monday that todate this year nine processing plants in Binh Duong province had produced a combined 4,700 tonnes of nuts worth $19.6 million. Thecashews had been exported to China, Taiwan and the United States, it said.

The paper added that the current local price for raw nuts was put at around 13 million dong ($1,000) per tonne.

Vietnam is the world's third biggest cashew producer after India and Brazil.In the first seven months of 1998 cashew exports earned Vietnam $64.7 million, 10.9 per cent down on the same period last year, according to official statistics.

The country's raw cashew output was around 150,000 tonnes in 1997, 30,000 tonnes of which were processed and exported to bring revenues of some $120 million. Cashews are one of Vietnam's main agricultural commodities after rice, coffee and rubber.