Cashew Milk Market | Latest Report, Market Analysis, Business Trends

Market Summary and Growth Forecast

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The global Cashew Milk Market is estimated at $286 million in 2026 and is expected to reach $591 million by 2035, growing at a CAGR of 8.4%.

These figures represent an independent analyst estimate. The model covers packaged cashew-based liquid beverages sold through retail, e-commerce, foodservice, institutional and industrial channels. It includes refrigerated and shelf-stable products. Cashew-based yogurt, creamers, cheese alternatives, spreads and homemade beverages are excluded to avoid double counting.

The Cashew Milk Market covers beverages produced by soaking, grinding or extracting cashew kernels with water. Commercial products may include calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B12, stabilizers, natural flavors or other plant ingredients. Newer clean-label versions use short ingredient lists and avoid gums, oils and artificial thickeners. Current products from Forager Project, MALK Organics and Elmhurst 1925 show how the category is moving toward whole-nut formulations, simple labels and shelf-stable packaging.

The business case rests on texture. Cashews produce a naturally creamy beverage without the strong cereal note found in some oat products or the thinner mouthfeel associated with basic almond drinks. This gives manufacturers room to compete in coffee, smoothies, breakfast products, sauces and home cooking. Cashew beverages can also support premium positioning because the raw material is more expensive than soy or oats.

That said, this remains a specialist category within plant-based dairy. Oat, soy and almond beverages have stronger distribution and higher consumer recognition. Cashew brands therefore need a clear reason to exist. Creamier texture, organic sourcing, minimal ingredients or barista performance are becoming the most credible points of difference.

Demand through 2035 will come from four connected consumer groups:

• Lactose-avoiding consumers: People who experience digestive discomfort from dairy or deliberately reduce lactose intake.
• Vegan and plant-based households: Consumers who exclude animal-derived foods.
• Flexitarian buyers: Households that still purchase dairy but use plant beverages for selected meals or occasions.
• Clean-label shoppers: Buyers who pay attention to gums, added oils, sweeteners and ingredient counts.

The category also serves several commercial clients. Grocery chains, natural-food retailers and e-commerce platforms are the main retail buyers. Cafés and restaurant groups purchase barista or culinary variants. Food processors use cashew beverages as inputs in smoothies, sauces, desserts, bakery mixes and prepared meals. Hotels, universities, hospitals and corporate cafeterias form a smaller institutional channel.

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Technology and production forces

Production economics will have a major influence on margins. Cashew kernels are a premium agricultural ingredient. Beverage manufacturers must balance kernel concentration, sensory quality and retail price. Using more cashews improves body and flavor but increases input cost. Using too little creates a watery product that struggles to justify a premium.

Processing technology is helping close that gap. High-shear milling, homogenization and improved filtration can produce a smoother beverage with less sediment. Enzyme-assisted extraction may improve yield. Ultra-high-temperature processing and aseptic cartons extend shelf life and reduce dependence on refrigerated distribution. Elmhurst 1925, for example, markets a patented extraction process designed to retain more of the nut while avoiding gums and emulsifiers.

Supply security matters too. Much of the global cashew economy depends on smallholder farming and cross-border processing. Raw nuts may be cultivated in West Africa or Southeast Asia and then processed elsewhere before reaching beverage plants. This creates exposure to harvest variability, freight cost, kernel quality and currency movement. World Bank and FAO-backed programs continue to support local processing, farm productivity and stronger value-chain governance in producing countries.

Regulatory and labeling forces

Regulation will shape how products are named and marketed. In the United States, the FDA has issued guidance addressing the naming and nutritional labeling of plant-based alternatives. Manufacturers may need clearer nutrition comparisons, especially where protein, calcium or vitamin levels differ from dairy milk.

European rules are stricter. The term “milk” is generally reserved for animal-derived dairy products. Cashew products are commonly marketed as “cashew drinks” or “cashew beverages” in European markets.

Cashew is also a tree nut allergen. Producers need strong allergen controls, clear declarations and segregation practices across shared manufacturing facilities. The FDA requires the specific food source of major allergens to be identified on packaged foods.

Expert view: The strongest commercial opportunity won’t come from presenting cashew as another generic dairy substitute. It will come from applications where creaminess, neutral flavor and clean formulation solve a real consumer or foodservice problem.

Competitive Intelligence and Benchmarking

Competition in the Cashew Milk Market remains fragmented. No single multinational controls the category. Instead, specialist plant-based brands compete through clean labels, organic certification, processing methods, packaging formats and channel access.

The competitive field also differs from oat or soy milk. Most cashew-focused brands operate in premium grocery, natural retail, direct-to-consumer or selected café channels. Scale is still limited. This leaves room for regional brands that can combine local cashew sourcing with lower production and distribution costs.

Forager Project

Forager Project has one of the broadest cashew-based food platforms among the companies benchmarked. Its portfolio extends beyond liquid beverages into cultured products and creamers. This creates stronger ingredient purchasing leverage and allows the company to build consumer recognition around cashew rather than treating it as one occasional flavor.

The company’s beverage positioning centers on organic inputs, low sugar and formulations without unnecessary oils or gums. It also has a direct link to upstream sourcing programs. Its CashewNuss initiative with ofi and GIZ is intended to support more than 10,000 farmers in Côte d’Ivoire through agricultural training, certification and community development. This strengthens its sourcing narrative and may improve long-term raw-material consistency.

Its market position is strongest in the United States. The principal constraint is cost. Organic cashews and refrigerated distribution create a relatively high delivered price. That makes it harder to compete for conventional household milk purchases.

Elmhurst 1925

Elmhurst 1925 competes through processing and formulation simplicity. Its cashew beverages are shelf-stable and generally use fewer ingredients than conventional emulsified nut drinks. The company emphasizes retaining more of the nut rather than filtering out a large portion of the solids.

This approach supports a richer texture and higher perceived product quality. Shelf-stable packaging also improves e-commerce economics because products can be shipped without refrigeration. The brand is therefore well positioned among ingredient-conscious consumers who purchase beverages directly online or through premium grocery stores.

The weakness is scale. Elmhurst 1925 has a broad plant-based portfolio, but it does not match the retail penetration of the largest oat and almond milk companies. Its products remain premium rather than household staples.

MALK Organics

MALK Organics operates at the upper end of the U.S. plant-based beverage market. Its cashew formulation uses a short ingredient list centered on organic cashews, water, salt and a small amount of almond content for body.

The company’s market position is built around ingredient transparency. It avoids gums, oils and fillers and uses this message prominently in consumer communication. This is relevant because many plant-based consumers now examine ingredient lists as closely as dairy content.

Its products compete more on trust and formulation quality than price. So, the growth opportunity lies in premium supermarkets, direct delivery and affluent urban households. The same positioning can become a restraint during periods of weaker discretionary spending.

Plenish

Plenish is a relevant European competitor with ambient cashew beverages produced from a limited number of ingredients. It markets cashew alongside almond, oat and other plant-based options rather than building an entirely cashew-dependent platform.

The brand benefits from shelf-stable cartons and established access to the United Kingdom’s plant-based retail infrastructure. Its cashew beverage is positioned for coffee, cereal, smoothies and household cooking.

Its broader beverage portfolio supports distribution efficiency. However, it also means cashew competes internally with higher-volume plant bases. Investment is likely to follow the formats that generate the fastest retailer turnover.

EcoMil

EcoMil is one of the more established European organic plant-beverage companies offering a dedicated cashew drink. It also markets cashew-based culinary preparations. This gives the company exposure to both direct beverage consumption and dairy-free cooking applications.

Its position is strongest in organic and specialist retail. The company’s product architecture shows how cashew can be used beyond the breakfast occasion. Culinary formats can compete with dairy cream and coconut-based cooking products in sauces, soups and desserts.

The company has a broad multi-ingredient portfolio. Cashew therefore benefits from shared manufacturing and distribution but may receive less marketing support than larger almond, oat or coconut lines.

Arummi Foods

Arummi Foods represents a different competitive model. Rather than importing a Western premium beverage concept, the company produces UHT cashew beverages locally in Indonesia using domestic cashew inputs.

Its portfolio includes everyday, chocolate and café-oriented formulations in family and single-serve pack sizes. This allows the company to address household consumption, convenience retail and professional coffee preparation. The company expanded into more than 20,000 Indonesian minimarkets in June 2026, moving cashew beverages closer to mass-market distribution.

Its main advantage is proximity to raw materials and consumers. Its challenge will be maintaining product consistency and margins while scaling. International expansion will also require market-specific labeling, distributor partnerships and stronger brand investment.

Competitive Benchmarking Conclusions

The leading companies can be grouped into three strategic models:

• Premium clean-label specialists: MALK Organics and Elmhurst 1925
• Cashew-centered dairy-alternative platforms: Forager Project
• Regional and multi-category beverage brands: Plenish, EcoMil and Arummi Foods

The strongest long-term position may belong to companies that combine these models. They need clean formulations. They also need shelf-stable logistics, foodservice functionality and access to dependable cashew supplies.

Expert view: Product quality alone won’t create leadership. The winners will be the companies that lower delivered cost without weakening texture or ingredient credibility.

Regional Landscape and Adoption Outlook

The following geographic estimates are based on an independent bottom-up model. They reconcile the previously stated global values of $286 million in 2026 and $591 million in 2035. Figures represent branded and private-label packaged cashew beverages. Homemade preparations and adjacent cashew foods are excluded.

United States

The United States is the largest individual market. It has the deepest base of specialist brands, refrigerated plant-based distribution and natural-food retailers. Cashew beverages also benefit from an established foodservice market for dairy alternatives.

The broader U.S. plant-based milk category generated approximately $2.7 billion in retail sales during 2025, although dollar and unit sales declined. Foodservice performed better. Plant-based milk and creamer sales in foodservice increased during 2025, showing that cafés and restaurants remain a useful route for premium formats.

For cashew milk specifically, growth will come from clean-label households and culinary use rather than direct displacement of mainstream dairy. Barista formulations are another route. Cashew must still compete with oat milk, which has stronger café recognition.

U.S. regulatory scrutiny is increasing. Proposed front-of-package nutrition labeling would require many packaged foods and beverages to display simplified information on saturated fat, sodium and added sugars if finalized. This may favor unsweetened cashew beverages while putting pressure on flavored formulations with higher sugar content.

Private funding and brand-building activity are stronger in the United States than in most regions. Still, investment is selective. Investors increasingly expect evidence of repeat purchasing, retailer productivity and a credible path to lower unit economics.

Europe

Europe is the second-largest regional market in the forecast. Adoption is strongest in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands and the Nordic countries.

The region benefits from extensive ambient-carton infrastructure. That supports shelf-stable products and reduces reliance on refrigerated logistics. Organic certification and short ingredient lists are also commercially important. Plenish and EcoMil illustrate the two main European models: premium clean-label beverages and broader organic plant-drink platforms.

Naming rules remain a material difference from the United States. European regulation generally reserves dairy terms such as “milk” for products derived from animals. Cashew products are therefore marketed as drinks or beverages in most European countries.

Funding is more likely to come through established beverage groups, organic-food companies and private-label manufacturers than standalone cashew startups. Retailer-owned brands may become particularly important because they can place cashew drinks within existing plant-based ranges without carrying the customer-acquisition costs faced by new brands.

The main constraint is shelf competition. European retailers already carry soy, oat, almond, coconut and blended products. Cashew must demonstrate sufficient sales per store to retain space.

China

China has a long commercial history with plant-protein beverages. Soy, walnut, peanut, coconut and mixed-grain drinks are already familiar to consumers. Cashew therefore does not need to introduce the concept of a plant-based beverage. It needs to establish a distinct reason to purchase a more expensive nut base.

A study of plant-protein beverages sold through Chinese online channels found substantial variation in ingredients, protein, sugar and fortification. This indicates a developed but highly diverse product environment where nutrition and formulation differ considerably by brand.

The most realistic entry routes are shelf-stable cartons, e-commerce, premium supermarkets and coffee chains in major cities. Localized flavors and small packs may work better than importing a high-priced Western family carton.

China is estimated to grow from $18 million in 2026 to $45 million in 2035. Growth is fast in percentage terms but starts from a limited base. Domestic co-manufacturing will be important because fully imported products face freight costs, distributor margins and slower replenishment.

India

India combines strong upstream relevance with a small finished-beverage market. It has a long-established cashew cultivation and processing industry. This gives local manufacturers access to processing knowledge and potential supplies of broken kernels or off-grade pieces that remain suitable for beverage production.

The country’s Vegan Foods Regulations have been in force since 2022. They establish requirements for foods marketed as vegan and provide a clearer compliance route for certified plant-based products.

India is forecast to be the fastest-growing market among the requested geographies, expanding from $11 million in 2026 to $30 million in 2035. Growth will remain concentrated in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and other high-income urban markets.

The main opportunity is local value addition. Manufacturers can process domestic cashews into UHT beverages rather than relying on imported finished products. Small cartons, café packs and online subscriptions are more likely to scale than expensive refrigerated bottles.

Affordability remains the central barrier. Conventional dairy is widely available. Soy, oat and almond products also compete for the same premium consumer. Volatility in raw-cashew prices may limit the cost advantage of local production. Recent grower initiatives have focused on bargaining power, government support and value-added uses as producers face unstable raw-nut prices.

Japan

Japan is projected to increase from $9 million in 2026 to $19 million in 2035. The country has established demand for soy beverages and a well-developed convenience and ambient-drink system. Still, dedicated cashew milk remains niche.

Adoption is likely to come through imported organic products, specialist supermarkets, online retail and premium cafés. Japanese consumers tend to expect consistent flavor, refined packaging and clear functional value. Unsweetened single-serve products may therefore perform better than large experimental flavor ranges.

Funding for cashew-specific businesses is limited. Entry will more likely occur through distributors or established beverage companies adding cashew to wider plant-based portfolios.

South Korea

South Korea is a smaller but faster-moving market. Revenue is estimated at $6 million in 2026 and $14 million in 2035.

The commercial opportunity is linked to café culture, online grocery and premium wellness consumption. Barista formulations could gain attention because cashew has a mild flavor and naturally creamy mouthfeel. However, brands must prove heat stability and foam performance against established oat products.

South Korean capital has also begun participating in Southeast Asian plant-based ventures. Korea Investment Partners lists Arummi Foods among its portfolio companies. This indicates investor interest in regional plant-based dairy platforms even when the domestic Korean cashew beverage category remains small.

Middle East

The Middle East is relevant but remains a secondary market. The region is estimated at $8 million in 2026 and $17 million in 2035.

The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are the most attractive entry markets. They have modern supermarkets, international hotel groups, specialty cafés and large expatriate populations. Shelf-stable cartons are preferable because the region depends heavily on imported food and long-distance distribution.

The strongest route is likely to be hospitality and premium grocery rather than broad household substitution. Unsweetened and barista formats can serve cafés, hotels and health-focused retailers. Single-serve packs may also work in airline, office and institutional channels.

Local beverage filling is possible in the longer term. However, raw materials, formulations or finished products will still depend on cross-border supply chains. Distributor margins and retailer listing fees can materially increase final prices.

Regional Adoption Priorities

From a strategic standpoint, the markets fall into three groups:

• Scale markets: United States and Europe
• High-growth markets: India, China, Indonesia and South Korea
• Selective premium markets: Japan, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia

Expert view: North America and Europe will continue producing most near-term revenue. Asia will produce more of the incremental growth. The successful Asian model, however, will be locally manufactured, shelf-stable and priced below imported premium brands.

Recent Developments, Opportunities and Restraints

Recent Developments

• January 2025 – U.S. front-of-package labeling proposal: The FDA proposed mandatory front-of-package nutrition information for most packaged foods. Cashew beverage companies may need to manage added sugar, sodium and saturated-fat disclosures more prominently if the rule is finalized. Unsweetened products would be better positioned than heavily flavored alternatives.
• February 2025 – CashewNuss supply-chain program: Forager Project, ofi and GIZ launched a program in Côte d’Ivoire covering climate-smart farming, organic certification, farmer training and infrastructure. The initiative is designed to work with approximately 10,000 cashew farmers. This can improve traceability and reduce upstream quality variation for cashew-based foods and beverages.
• September 2025 – Arummi Foods financing: Indonesian cashew beverage company Arummi Foods raised approximately $2 million from investors including BEENEXT, Korea Investment Partners and Fondation Botnar. The capital was intended to expand production and distribution in Indonesia and neighboring Southeast Asian markets.
• June 2026 – Mainstream Indonesian retail expansion: Arummi Foods expanded its single-serve cashew beverages into more than 20,000 minimarkets in Indonesia. The rollout shows that locally produced cashew beverages can move beyond premium health stores when pack size and pricing are adapted to everyday retail.

Opportunities and Business Insights

1. Localized Growth in Emerging Markets

India, Indonesia, Vietnam and parts of Africa are close to cashew production and processing. This creates an opportunity to convert more raw nuts into branded finished beverages.

Local production can reduce freight expenses and import duties. It can also use kernel grades that may not achieve premium whole-nut export prices but remain suitable for grinding and extraction.

The most viable emerging-market format is likely to be shelf-stable. Smaller cartons can lower the trial price and expand distribution through convenience stores, schools, cafés and e-commerce.

2. Barista and Culinary Products

Cashew beverages have a natural advantage in applications that require creaminess. Coffee, soups, sauces, desserts and smoothies offer more defensible use cases than basic drinking milk.

Foodservice customers also purchase in larger and more predictable volumes. Suppliers can offer dedicated formulations with improved heat stability, foam structure and post-opening shelf life.

The opportunity is not limited to cafés. Hotels, bakeries, restaurant groups and prepared-food manufacturers can use neutral-tasting cashew beverages as alternatives to dairy cream or coconut milk.

3. Processing Automation and Cost Reduction

AI is not a major consumer-facing growth driver in this market. Automation is more relevant.

Inline viscosity monitoring, automated homogenization controls and optical inspection can reduce batch variation. Manufacturers can also use demand forecasting and traceability software to manage cashew purchases, production planning and inventory.

Higher extraction yields offer the largest direct cost-saving opportunity. Retaining more usable solids from each kilogram of cashews can improve texture while lowering raw-material consumption per litre.

Blended formulations may provide another route. Combining cashews with oats, almonds or selected proteins can improve functionality and reduce cost. The formulation must remain transparent so consumers do not feel that the cashew positioning is misleading.

Key Restraints

Raw-Material Cost and Volatility

Cashews are more expensive than oats or soybeans. Kernel prices can change with harvest conditions, processing capacity, freight rates and currency movements. Manufacturers either absorb these changes or raise retail prices.

Allergen Requirements

Cashews are tree nuts and must be managed as major food allergens in markets such as the United States. Producers need clear labeling, segregation and validated cleaning procedures, particularly when plants manufacture several nut-based beverages.

Nutritional Positioning

Cashew beverages are often lower in protein than dairy or soy milk. Fortification can improve calcium and vitamin levels but increases formulation complexity. Brands that market broad nutritional equivalence without adequate evidence may face consumer or regulatory scrutiny.

Crowded Retail Shelves

Cashew milk competes with dairy, oat, soy, almond, coconut and blended alternatives. Retailers allocate space according to sales productivity. A slow-selling cashew product may be removed even when consumer reviews are positive.

Premium Pricing

Many current cashew beverages are positioned as organic or clean-label products. This supports margins but limits household penetration. The category will struggle to become mainstream until brands reduce the price gap with almond and oat beverages.

Expert view: Cashew milk has enough product differentiation to build a meaningful category. Yet it won’t become a universal dairy replacement. The commercially attractive space lies in premium retail, barista beverages, culinary applications and locally produced emerging-market formats.

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