Price of Nigerian cashew nuts jumps up 188% in international market

The price of cashew nuts from Nigeria has recorded a 188.8 per cent increase in the international market, the  President, National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN), Mr Olatunji Owoeye, has said

At the flag off of this year’s cashew trading season in Anyingba in Kogi on Tuesday Owoeye said that the price jumped from N45,000 per tonne to N130,000 per tonne.
Cashew producing states in the country are Kogi, Kwara, Oyo, Niger, Imo, Enugu, Abia, Kaduna and Federal Capital Territory.
Owoeye said the current price of cashew nuts, which is determined by market forces, was a good omen for the country’s economy.
He said that cashew nuts from Nigeria were now the toast of buyers in the international market.
He attributed the development to improvement in quality and packaging and adherence to international standards.
He said members of the association were made up of cashew exporters, processors, cashew farmers, licensed buying agents, as well as owners of warehouses.
He said that the association had commenced negotiations with some foreign investors to establish cashew processing plants in the country.
Owoeye said that the problems of storage, multiple taxation and influx of quacks into the industry were being handled at the appropriate quarters and warned stakeholders not to indulge in sharp practices.
He thanked the Federal Government for encouraging the production and marketing of cashew nuts, adding that there was the need for the government to check smuggling of the product into neighbouring countries.
He also urged the government to assist the association in the regeneration of cashew plantations across the country and appealed to Nigerians to increase consumption of cashew products.
In his address, Alhaji Ichapi Mohammed, the Vice President of the association, stressed the need for Nigeria to increase its participation in the global cashew nut market.
He said the situation where the country only sold raw cashew nuts and kernel out of the 99 by-products derivable from the commodity called for a concern.
He appealed to banks to show more interest in the sector by assisting farmers with credit facility to boost production and develop the country’s potential of becoming the leading exporter of cashew products in Africa
Mohammed also appealed to the federal and state governments to extend agricultural loans to cashew farmers to enable them expand their farms and replace aged cashew trees.
“This will increase the income of the farmers and create employment opportunities for people living in the rural areas of the country,” he said.  (NAN)
(Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/02/price-of-nigerian-cashew-nuts-jumps-up-188-in-international-market/)