Mozambique keeps cashew nut reference price unchanged at 45 meticais

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Mozambique keeps cashew nut reference price unchanged at 45 meticais

1:15 CAT | 13 Oct 2025

Photo: Ministério da Agricultura, Ambiente e Pescas

Mozambique decided this Friday to maintain the producer reference price for cashew nuts at 45 meticais (€0.61) per kilo for the current campaign, to ensure the sustainability in the sector which includes one of the country’s main and fastest-growing cash crops.

“We will maintain the reference price at 45 meticais [per kilo] and monitor the evolution of market conditions. There is nothing to prevent this committee from meeting again to discuss setting another reference price should market conditions change,” said the Secretary of State for the Sea and Fisheries, Momade Juízo, on Friday, defending an incentive and “fair” remuneration for those working in the value chain to ensure the sector’s sustainability.

The official was speaking in Maputo during the first session of the Oilseeds Committee, held annually to set the reference purchase price of cashew nuts from producers for each marketing campaign – in this case, 2025/2026. He pointed out financial challenges that have led to the closure of several processing units in recent years.

“The national processing industry (…) has been facing challenges in recent years due to the macroeconomic situation,” said Momade Juízol, noting that such factors “have contributed to rising production costs and reduced the financial capacity of many processing companies, leading to the closure of some units due to a lack of capital and raw material”.

Momade Juízo also announced that the country is preparing to sign a memorandum of understanding with the government of China to open a new market for the export of cashew nuts and macadamia there.

“This agreement will bring direct benefits to our producers, processors, and exporters by expanding marketing opportunities for this product,” he said.

Cashew nut marketing in Mozambique reached around 195,400 tonnes in the last 2024/2025 campaign – according to figures released by the Secretary of State during Friday’s session, and a historic milestone, close to the record levels of the 1970s, when the country was one of the world’s largest producers.

Cashew nut exports from Mozambique continue to grow, reaching US$38.7 million (€33 million) in the first quarter, leading exports among the so-called “traditional products”, according to data from the Bank of Mozambique reported by Lusa this month.

According to information from the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries, cashew nut production in Mozambique reached over 200,000 tonnes annually fifty years ago, still under colonial rule. Until the mid-1970s, Mozambique was the world’s second-largest producer of cashew nuts (210,000 tonnes processed in 1973), behind only India, which at that time bought a large part of the production (and still does today).

After Mozambique’s independence on 25 June 1975, production fell by more than 90%, to around 15,000 to 20,000 tonnes annually. However, it has been increasing each year, and in the 2024/2025 campaign the country regained prominence as a major producer of cashew nuts, remaining in seventh place globally.

The Mozambican government estimates that cashew nut production, one of the main national cash crops, will increase by 23% this year to 218,900 tonnes, with the cultivated area also expanding significantly.

According to previous data from the Ministry of Agriculture, the oilseeds value chain in Mozambique “involves about 1,047,000 families, 69 companies, and 7,287 workers nationwide”. In Maputo province alone, this activity involves 32,168 families. The province is “the main centre of oilseed consumption, generating numerous business opportunities”.

Source: Lusa