Setting Up a Cashew Processing Plant in Africa

Africa is the world's largest producer of cashew nuts. But until now, Africa has not been able to establish a mature cashew nut processing industry, and raw cashew nuts are still exported to South Asia in large quantities, and then further processed and then exported to all parts of the world. Cashew nut processing has a very high rate of return, so it has also attracted a large number of investors to set up cashew nut processing plants in Africa to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.


Status of Cashew Nut Production in Africa
Cashew nuts are Benin's second largest source of foreign exchange earnings from agricultural exports after cotton, with an annual output of nearly 140,000 tons. According to the price determined after the Benin ministerial meeting on March 30, 2022, the transaction price of raw cashew nuts in Benin for the 2021/2022 agricultural season is set at 350 siefs/kg, which indicates that the purchase price of raw cashew nuts in Benin is changing from the past three agricultural This season, prices have risen by 50 cefts compared to the previous season.

In Benin, cashew farming employs 200,000 people. While Benin's Ministry of Agriculture has not yet given production forecasts for the new season, many observers estimate that the 2022 cashew harvest will be between 130,000 and 150,000 tons.

In Africa, Benin is one of the main cashew nut producers in the West African subregion, along with Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria and Guinea-Bissau. West Africa accounts for 45% of the world's total cashew production, half of which is in Côte d'Ivoire. South Asia, particularly India, Vietnam and Cambodia, also accounts for around 45% of world production, but the region concentrates 90% of the cashew processing industry. In addition, Tanzania, Mozambique, Indonesia and Brazil produce the remaining 10%.

Status of Cashew Nut Processing in Africa - Benin
Benin, like the whole of Africa, has not established a mature cashew nut processing industry, and raw cashew nuts are still exported in large quantities.

In a typical year, foreign buyers buy 80 percent of Benin's raw cashews, while another 20 percent are processed locally. However, in the past two years, due to the COVID-19 outbreak that forced the Benin government to close its borders and restrict movement, it made it difficult for foreign buyers to participate in the launching ceremony of the Benin cashew buying season in time, resulting in market uncertainty and local raw cashew prices. fluctuations. Therefore, maintaining price stability, upgrading the cashew nut industry chain, and promoting local cashew nut processing have become the determined development direction of Benin's cashew nut industry.

HRD Industries is the 25th company to invest in the Georgian Industrial Park (GDIZ) in Benin. The company specialises in the processing of agricultural products, with an investment estimated at 7 billion francs (approximately 10 million euros). With the entry of HRD INDUSTRIES, GDIZ is expected to become a zero-waste zone for cashew nut processing in Africa in 2023, truly realizing the complete utilization of cashew nut resources.

Production activities at HRD Industries are expected to start in September 2022 on a 3-hectare site with plans to create 17,000 direct jobs and 15,000 indirect jobs by December 2023.

African Cashews - Exported Worldwide
Due to the limited processing capacity of local cashew nuts in Africa, the main African cashew nut producing countries are currently exporting a large number of cashew nuts. The following is some cashew nut transaction information for reference only:


To sum up, the cashew nut processing industry in Africa still has great prospects. It is still a good choice for most investors to set up a local cashew processing plant in Africa.

If you need cashew nut processing machinery to build a cashew factory, welcome to consult us.