Cashew Market Update March 2022 Week 11

Africa has seen a rise in its cashew exports to Europe. For the first time since 1970, cashew imports to Europe from Africa are at 11%. While most of Africa's exports are to Asian markets, this new development is being considered a win for the African cashew market. Though, even now, Africa is unable to process its products. The majority of the processing continues to happen in Asia of African cashew. It is then transferred to European and American markets. 

One of the reasons for the rise in export numbers to the European market is the improvement in food safety. Trust has seen an increase in the African production sector. It is hoped that as trust continues to grow, we will continue to see better numbers. 

Another factor has been quality and quantity. The quality of the 2021 African crop was satisfactory and quantity-wise, Africa has countries that lead cashew productions. Cote d'Ivoire, one of the most important cashew producing countries, leads the world in terms of production. Having achieved 1 million mt volumes in 2021, expectations are that this figure will be crossed in 2021. 

While Africa has performed well, Nigeria has seen a decrease in up to 15% production. This is due to harsh weather conditions. It is estimated that Nigeria will be able to bring somewhere between 200-220,000 mt to the market in 2022.