Ivory Coast raises projected cashew output as threatened tariffs hit exports

Ivory Coast, the world's biggest cashew grower, has raised its projected output to 1.3-million metric tons from 1.15-million tons even as potential US tariffs and a falling dollar drag down exports, the head of the sector regulator told Reuters.

The production increase stems in part from curbs on the smuggling of raw cashews to neighbouring Ghana and Burkina Faso, Mamadou Berte of the Cotton and Cashew Council (CCA) said.

At the same time, Vietnamese buyers have drastically cut purchases of Ivorian raw cashews for processing in response to US tariffs, Berte said.

Vietnam usually buys 80% of Ivory Coast's cashew production, of which 60% is re-exported to the US. But Vietnamese buyers have only purchased 200,000 tons of raw cashews for this year, compared with 700,000 to 800,000 tons for last year, Berte said.

Last month US President Donald Trump's administration announced sweeping tariffs on dozens of countries, including Ivory Coast, which faced a tariff of 21%, the highest in West Africa. Trump then paused the tariffs for 90 days for negotiations, while retaining an across-the-board levy of 10%.

Vietnam is facing a 46% tariff if a reduction cannot be agreed before a US moratorium expires in July.

"We are in total loss if we continue," said the manager of a Vietnamese cashew company.

The drop in the US dollar this year has also complicated contract execution and lowered prices for local producers, as contracts were arranged at the higher rate, Berte said.

Prices have dropped to as low as 200 CFA francs (R6.26) per kilogram from 425 CFA francs (R13.30) earlier in the year, Berte said, likely due to the threatened US tariffs and a weakening dollar affecting exports and profitability.

Eight buyers and five exporters, including Vietnamese and Indians, confirmed to Reuters the drop in price.

The buyers said there were about 200,000 tons of raw cashew nuts from Ivorian producers they could not purchase, warning that local producers would need to store them or sell them locally to avoid waste.

Berte said local buyers had bought more than 650,000 tons of raw cashew nuts so far this year compared to 300,000 tons last year.

"Faced with this situation of poor sales, the CCA is considering support mechanisms for the total purchase of the residual stock," he said.

Reuters