Govt bans export of cashew between March and May

The Ministry of Trade and Industry has banned the export of raw cashew nuts from the country between March and May.

The move is to help retain a sizeable amount of the nuts for the local processing industry, which is currently struggling to survive in the face of increased exports.

A statement from the ministry said, henceforth traders would be allowed to export raw cashew nuts after May 31, although purchases could be done in the harvesting season.

The main harvesting season falls between January and June.

“Any raw cashew nuts that are brought to the ports or borders of Ghana for export between March 31 and May 31 shall be confiscated to the state,” the statement, signed by the sector Minister, Mr Ekow Spio-Gabrah, said.

It further urged the general public and stakeholders in the cashew bsuiness to take note of the new directive, which took immediate effect.

Fortunes of processors

The move is expected to be a relief to the cashew processors, who have been competing with exporters for the crop to feed their plants.

Out of the 13 processors in the country, only three of them were operating as of December, last year, with the majority of them shutting down due to lack of raw material in the face of rising cost of productions.

This has led to a sharp decline in the quantity of cashew nuts processed into kennels, which fetches a comparatively higher price in the export market.

Quantity processed declined from some 4,250 tonnes to 2,500 tonnes in 2015, according to the Trade and Industry Ministry.

“This implies that the industry is operating at just five per cent of its installed processing capacity of 65,890 tonnes,” the statement said.

It attributed the declining fortunes of the processors to the inability of the processors to obtain the product “due to the intensive competition with purchases from traders at the farm gate.

“This situation is stifling the ministry’s objective of promoting value addition under the National Export Development Programme (NEDP) between 2016 and 2020, which seeks to increase earnings from the non-traditional export (NTE) sector,” it added.

“The survival of the industry, which is processing cashew in Ghana is on the brink of collapse and will only survive on the availability of adequate supply of raw cashew nuts for processing,” it concluded.