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G.K. Nair

Kochi, Nov. 22 The governments of Kerala and Tanzania have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for importing raw cashew nuts directly to avoid middlemen apart from maintaining consistency in supply.

The MoU is to procure sufficient quantity of raw nuts from the African nation for the State-owned Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation (KSCDC) and Capex – both having 30 and 10 factories respectively employing about 40,000 workers. The KSCDC alone requires 65,000 tonnes of raw nuts a year, Dr K.A. Retheesh, Managing Director of the Corporation told Business Line.

Tanzania, one of the main producers of good quality nuts in the world, has an annual output of around one lakh tonne and a substantial portion of it is exported mainly to India.

Under the agreement the Tanzanian Government would ensure quality of the material while both the governments would jointly decide on the price of the raw nuts, he said.

The MoU was signed by Mtwara Regional Commissioner, Col (Rtd) Anatoli Albini Tarimo on behalf of the Tanzanian Government and the Secretary looking after Cashew Industry in the Kerala Government in the presence of Mr P.K. Gurudasan, Minister for Labour, Excise and Cashew Industry, Chief Secretary, Mr P.J. Thomas, the Tanzanian Cashew Board Director General, Mr A.M. Beno Mhagama and Mr Benjamin P. Mwangwala, Senior Cooperative Officer, Tanzanian Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives.

The event could be viewed as an act of professionalism by the management of the Government company as the signing of the MoU came immediately after the reports that the Tanzanian Cashew Board (CBT) had initiated steps to bring in “indicative prices” for raw nuts produced in that country, industry sources pointed out.

According to the CBT, the prices of first and second-class cashews would be Sh 675 and Sh 540 a Kg respectively in the major cashew growing region in the African nation, Mtwara, where bonded warehouse receipt systems would be introduced for buying the crop.

The cashew buyers have been urged to purchase raw cashew nuts from the Cooperative unions’ stores. These measures are aimed at ensuring the growers of better price apart from regulating the exports, they said.

More Stories on : Cashew | Foreign Trade

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