Other News / Agriculture - 4 days ago
Drop in global price threatens cashew exports
The National Cashew Association of Nigeria Publicity Secretary, Mr. Sotonye Anga, has said the continuous crash of commodity prices in the global market has had a huge impact on the Nigerian cashew sector. Many exporters, he said, have been forced to hold excess stocks of raw cashew nuts bought at a time when prices were more favourable. Anga told The Nation that cashew sells for below $1,000 per metric tonne (MT), signaling 34 per cent drop in price from last year. Last year, the price of raw cashew nuts fell by 50 per cent from N600, 000 ($1,666) per metric tonne in April to about N300, 000 ($833) in July. In 2017, a metric tonne was bought at the rate of N600,000. Since the commencement of the 2019 cashew season, exporters have been unable to meet up with their contractual agreements entered into on the back of a worsening Apapa and Tin Can traffic situation as well as the slow clearing process at the port. Cashew nut farmers in the country have lost approximately N99 billion since the commencement of production this year. The farmers produce about 220,000 metric tonnes of cashew nuts yearly. This year, however, the cost plummeted to N150,000 per tonne. The figure implies that they lose N450,000 on every tonne sold. Multiplied by 220,000 metric tonnes, the farmers are set ba...