Mozambique: Nampula cashew sales hit three-year high

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Mozambique: Nampula cashew sales hit three-year high

4:33 CAT | 27 Mar 2025

File photo: Ministério da Economia

The current cashew nut sales campaign in Nampula province, the country’s largest producer, has reached record numbers in the last five years, reaching 94,000 tonnes, compared to the planned 82,000 , out of a national target of 170,000 tonnes.

Local authorities say the performance is the result of community involvement, investments and improved prices charged to producers.

For this cashew harvest, which began on October 16th last year, the Nuts Committee approved the price of 45.00 meticais per kilogram for cashew nuts purchased from producers, against 35.00 meticais in 2023-2024.

Graciano Francisco, spokesperson for the Council of Representation of Provincial State Services, estimates that around 5.1 billion meticais of the product were traded in rural areas, compared to 3.1 billion in the 2023-24 campaign, an increase of 64%.

The weighted average price charged in Nampula during this campaign is 54.35 meticais.

According to Francisco, of the total quantities traded, 71,000 tons were exported to various markets, especially Indonesia and India, generating foreign exchange for the country.

Nampula province has 15 cashew nut processing units with an installed capacity of 74,850 tons, but eight are closed due to financial problems.

The Nuts Institute of Mozambique monitors the behaviour of the domestic market in its multiple aspects, such as quantities traded and their respective destinations, prices and quality, acting in favour of producers in a subsector that involves more than 1.4 million families.

Mozambique was once the world’s largest producer of cashew nuts in the 1972-73 campaign, with sales of around 216,000 tonnes. From 1976 onwards, production began to decline, falling to 18,000 tonnes in 1982-83, due to poor crop management, abandonment of cashew trees, outbreak of pests and diseases, the ageing of cashew trees and uncontrolled ‘queimadas’ [fires used to clear agriculture plots or make charcoal].

Source: Notícias