Nampula, Mozambique, 1 July – Harvesting cashews in Mozambique before they were fully ripened led to estimated losses of US$3 million, an official from the Association of Cashew Industry-owners (Aicaju), cited by Mozambican daily newspaper, Notícias.
At the launch of the campaign for chemical control of cashew pests and diseases, which aims to spray around 5 million trees, Silvino Martins said that of the total cashews purchased during the recent sales campaign around 2,100 tons were of insufficient quality for export.
Martins also said that the early harvest of cashews had led to a high level of broken nuts or some with black or yellow colouring, which means it is immediately rejected in the process of selection for export.
Early harvesting also leads to financial losses for industry owners both in terms of purchasing the nuts on the market and in processing the product, which puts an industry, which currently has 22 units (one has closed) at risk.
The benchmark price for cashew nuts on the international market is between US$4.30 and US$4.40 per pound or around US$9.47 per kilogramme.
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