<p></p><p>The Chinese owned Sunshine Industry is set to be established in Mtwara region and expected to process about 5,000 tonnes of cashewnut annually. T he Minister for Trade, Industry and Investment, Joseph Kakunda, stated the government and the firm`s management are still proceeding with discussions and the firm is expected to begin operations very soon.</p> <p>This was when the Chinese Ambassador, Miss Wang Ke, visited the Ministry`s offices to discuss economic cooperation between the two countries. The ambassador promised the firm`s assistance in finding market for the processed cashew alongside pledging China`s support in the improvement of economic development especially in trade and industry sectors. </p><p>All this comes after the Tanzanian government`s record controversial move when it decided to purchase the year`s entire cashew harvest of about 200,000 tonnes from the local farmers. This was due to failure of the business men to purchase a kilo at the government proposed price of Tsh. 3300 ($1.4). </p><p>Chinese Sunshine Industry comes into to supplement the already existing nine private owned cashew industries which are: Micronix Matwara (2,000 tonnes), CC Factory (5,000 tonnes), Hawte Investment (2,000 tonnes), Amama Factory (2,000 tonnes), Micronix Newala (2,500 tonnes), Yalin Korosho (10,000 tonnes), and small scale processors (3,000 tonnes) which all together process 26,500 tonnes. </p><p>However, Yalin Korosho, Agro-Focus and Micronix Masasi are not operational because Yalin Korosho is still under construction, Agro-Focus factory has been abandoned and Micronix Masasi has pending cases at the courts of law. </p><p>Other private factories include MeTL, Sonel of Mikindani, Premier Cashews, and Terra Cashew Processing Tanzania in Kibaha with a 6,000 tonnes annual processing capacity. Despite the presence of all these factories in the country, the entire cashew consignment cannot be processed creating a need for more cashew processing investments into the country.<br></p><p></p>