The Mozambican Ministry of Agriculture, Environment, and Fisheries announced today that the Almond Committee session held Tuesday in Maputo has set the reference prices for the export of cashew nuts for the 2025/2026 campaign. The quality of 46 pounds is now priced at $1,250 (1,074 euros) per ton, marking an increase of 19%.
Cashew nuts of 53 pounds quality are set at $1,440 (1,237 euros) per ton, reflecting a 13.5% rise, “in line with the global market price dynamics,” the statement added.
The committee meeting, chaired by Ilídio Bande, Director-General of the Mozambican Almond Institute, included 40 participants, among them representatives from the Association of Cashew Industrials, the Nampula Commercial and Industrial Association, the National Union of Agroindustrial and Cashew and Forestry Industry Workers, “among other key stakeholders in the cashew value chain.”
It was also decided during the meeting that the export of cashew nuts will officially commence on December 19 to “ensure full supply to the industry,” with the campaign expected to reach an export volume of around 60,000 tons, of which 45,000 tons are “already provisioned.”
Mozambique plans to invest $374 million (322 million euros) to develop the cashew sector, aiming to increase annual production from the current 158,000 tons to 689,000 tons by 2034, as reported by the Agriculture Ministry in October.
The program’s objective, to be carried out nationwide, the ministry explained, “is to promote sustainable and competitive development of the cashew value chain, strengthening research, promotion, extension, commercialization, and processing,” contributing “to increased production and income for producers and generating employment opportunities.”
“Cashew nuts are a product of social cohesion and a promoter of food and nutritional security; we encourage its inclusion in school feeding programs and restaurant menus,” stated Minister Roberto Albino in the announcement.
The Cashew Value Chain Development Program 2025-2034 includes the reform of implementation mechanisms to strengthen the industry and, beyond increasing production levels, according to the ministry, also envisions expanding “capacity to assist 230,000 to over 600,000 producers, processing from 40,000 to over 482,000 tons, and consolidating the sector’s digitization processes.”
The program also aims to foster alliances among players, benefiting both producers and industrialists and exporters.
“We intend for the cashew industry to operate without significant state interventions,” added the minister.
Previous official data indicated that cashew commercialization in Mozambique reached about 195,400 tons in the last 2024/2025 campaign, approaching the historical record of the 1970s when the country was one of the largest global producers.
Mozambique’s cashew nut export continues to grow, amounting to $38.7 million (33 million euros) in the first quarter, leading traditional product sales abroad, according to official data.
Some 50 years ago, during the colonial period, cashew production in Mozambique reached over 200,000 tons annually, and until the mid-1970s, Mozambique was the world’s second-largest cashew producer (processing 210,000 tons in 1973), trailing only India, which at that time, and still today, purchased much of this production.
