The cashew market witnessed buoyancy in March with reasonable activity in kernels and a good activity in raw cashew nut trade.
This was after a sluggish trade in February.
According to Cashewinfo.com, an Indian news portal, at the end of the month, however, the market was steady with selling interest being lower in the first quarter.
The domestic market has also been ruling steady within a narrow range with periodic bursts of activity.
Import duties
After a decline in February, raw cashew prices have moved up a tad in the last two weeks. Current prices, including cost and freight (c&f) in Nigeria are around US$850, $950-975 c&f for Ivory Coast, $1,075-1,100 c&f for Ghana and around $1,150 c&f for Benin.
These prices are 10-15 per cent higher compared with the same period last year.
Some players in the industry have said that such disparity could not be sustained and, therefore, something had to change.
They have argued that shipments of West African raw cashew have started and during April, they expect to see whether flow from Ivory Coast would be smooth despite restrictions on movements.
Initial reports indicate that efforts to enforce quality standards are bearing fruits.
Traders said the downside from current levels would be limited.
At the same time, there is no reason to expect a big jump in prices.
A reasonable and gradual price increase in the second half of the year is possible unless the raw cashew prices drop significantly during April-May, the portal observed.
Decline in raw cashew prices after May will not have any major impact because that will be accompanied by a decline in kernel yields.
Ghana’s cashew season launched
Meanwhile, in its quest to help boost cashew production in the country, the Ghana Cashew Industry Association has formally launched the country’s cashew season at Wenchi in the Brong Ahafo Region on Thursday, March 27, 2014.
The event, the first of its kind in the country, was organised with support from the African Cashew Initiative (ACi) and the African Cashew Alliance (ACA).
The occasion helped to create a conducive platform to set a national agenda for the next season.
According to the Executive Secretary of the association, Ms Yayra Afua Amedzro, the maiden event on the theme; “Harnessing the Economic and Climatic benefits of cashew; the strategic non-traditional export commodity” was put together with the intention of making it an annual event to mark the largest gathering of cashew industry players including producers, processors, exporters, researchers and policy makers among others.
Cashew in Ghana
Cashew, like many other agricultural commodities, is a seasonal crop with large concentrations in the Brong Ahafo Region although there are producers in other parts of the country including the Northern Region.
Cashew cultivation in Ghana started in the 1960s with sporadic plantings in the Central and Greater Accra regions and later spread into the Brong Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions on a much wider scale.
However, between 1970 and 1980, the industry suffered a setback due to the absence of appropriate policies to support the development of an emerging industry.
Low producer prices, underdeveloped market structures, and inadequate information regarding appropriate husbandry practices for cashew, caused farmers enthusiasm to wane considerably and already established plantations were abandoned and left to the mercy of bushfires and fuel wood collectors.
The potential
According to the acting President of the Ghana Cashew Industry Association (GCIA), Mr Winfred Osei Owusu, cashew exports from Ghana generated an amount US$170 million in the form of foreign exchange earnings into the economy in 2013.
This made the commodity the second-largest contributor to the non-traditional export crop in the country. In the Brong Ahafo Region alone, there are twelve major small-scale cashew processing factories that yearn for more volumes to meet their installed production capacities.
Mr Osei-Owusu, who was addressing participants at the launch of the cashew season, called on the government to ensure the development of the sector to harness its full potential.
“It has massively helped the economies of Brazil, India and Vietnam. In Vietnam, for instance, the commodity generates about US$1.6 billion and Ghana can also replicate this success story,” he said.
“For the nation to reap the maximum benefits of cashew, then we must accelerate its production. We can only consolidate the work and effort that has been done in the past by increasing our production from the current 50,000 metric tons to 200,000 metric tons per year. “Processors in the country are getting nervous, because the total installed capacity hovering around 62,000 metric tons outweighs local production,” he stated.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry has hinted of plans to provide the sector with funds from the Export Development Agriculture Investment Fund (EDAIF) to help boost cashew production.
Presently, more than 40,000mt of raw cashew nuts are produced in the country and export figures average 80,000mt with inflows from Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Benin to major destinations such as India, Vietnam and Brazil.
Ghana also boasts of increasing processing in the country up to about 30,000mt capacity which will also create employment for thousands of people with women being in the majority.
Way forward
With processing demand exceeding production volumes, coupled with border import restrictions by Cote D’Ivoire, it is expected that the government will expedite action to support the sector to increase its production levels.
Fortunately, Ghana’s production quality currently is said to be the best in West Africa and with improved planting materials, the government must capitalise on it and reap the enormous benefits to make cashew a game change in the non-traditional export sector.