Mangalore has emerged as a major market for Tanzania in terms of raw cashew exports. Of Tanzania's exportable quantities of raw cashew, over 50 per cent are exported to Mangalore alone.

This was revealed by Mr Mohamedi Hanga, Director of Marketing, Cashewnut Board of Tanzania (CBT), who is a part of a delegation to study the cashew industry in Mangalore.

He told Business Line here that around 50,000 tonnes of raw cashew were exported to Mangalore in the last season.

Imports were made by processing units in Mangalore.

Mr Omega Mnali, General Manager of Masasi Mtwara Cooperative Union, Tanzania, said that overall about 80,000 tonnes of cashew were exported from Tanzania last season. “We are here to further boost the bilateral relationship between the two with respect to cashew trade,” Mr Hanga said.

Mr Narahari Prabhu, an importer of Tanzanian cashew and who has a processing unit near Mangalore, attributed the reasons for growth in import to factors such as quality of cashew and direct calling of mainline container vessels to Mangalore.

Mr Prabhu said that Tanzanian seeds have good colour and size. This fact helps the processing industry in Mangalore.

Terming quality of Tanzanian cashew as good, Mr K. Prakash Rao, former President of Karnataka Cashew Manufacturers' Association, said that Tanzanian cashew quality is similar that of India, and it is being accepted in the domestic market.

Stating that raw cashew in Tanzania is marketed through CBT, he said the board ensures that all the cargo are well dried. “That being the reason, the quality of the kernels is excellent in terms of Mangalore requirement. That is the reason why Mangalore preferred to buy a lot of seeds from Tanzania,” he said.

Mr Rao said that cashew season in Tanzania starts in August and ends in December. The shipment to export destinations such as Mangalore continues till February-March.

Mr Prabhu said that there will not be cashews of any other origin during that period, and the domestic procurement of cashew begins mostly in May.

He said that the direct calling of mainline container vessels from Tanzania to Mangalore has helped bring down the transit time to seven days. The lesser transit time helps the processors to bring down their risks in the market to that extent.

Stating that the import of the commodity through other means will take almost a month, he said there will be a lot of fluctuation in the market by that time.

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