Cast from VARCHAR to INT – MySQL

As described in Cast Functions and Operators:

The type for the result can be one of the following values:

• BINARY[(N)]
• CHAR[(N)]
• DATE
• DATETIME
• DECIMAL[(M[,D])]
• SIGNED [INTEGER]
• TIME
• UNSIGNED [INTEGER]

Therefore, you should use:

SELECT CAST(PROD_CODE AS UNSIGNED) FROM PRODUCT