<p></p><p>Now the Ivory Coast is the world ranking producer of cashew nuts or cashew in 2016, surpassing India, announced Monday an Ivorian responsible for the sector, at the beginning of the marketing year. <br></p> <p>"To everyone's surprise, Côte d'Ivoire became the first world producer of raw cashew nuts with a 25% market share," he told AFP Malamine Sanogo, director of cotton cashew Council (CCA) which manages the sector. On a global production expected 2.9 million tons, the country, hitherto second largest producer, will realize a 725,000 t of harvest, surpassing India (650,000 t, 22% of world production) and Vietnam (325.000 t, 11%). <br></p> <p>"It sets a goal of reaching one million tons by 2020, provided the price is right and incentive", welcomed Mr Sanogo.</p> <p>The purchase price to farmers was set at 350 CFA francs (0.53 euro) per kg in 2016 against 275 FCFA (0.41 euro) in the previous campaign. <br></p> <p>In 2015, the industry had achieved a record production of 702,000 tons over against 564,780 tons in 2014, the result of a reform guaranteeing a purchase price for cashew growers, as is already the case for cocoa which the country is also the largest producer. <br></p> <p>Cashew product almond used in cooking and cosmetics.</p><p>The shell of the raw nuts contains a liquid used as fluid for aircraft braking systems. The cashew apple, it is used to produce wine, liquor, syrup, jam and juice. <br></p> <p>The raw cashew nuts are exported to India, Vietnam and Brazil, which have processing industries, while the main consumers are the United States (150,000 t in 2015), the European Union (110,000 t) , India (200,000 t), China (50,000 t), the United Arab Emirates (15,000) and Australia (15,000 t). <br></p> <p>Ivory Coast to meet the challenge of the low level of local processing, which was 6% in 2015. <br></p> <p>"We want to transform, go to the markets and sell the label Ivory Coast, it is very important to us," said Mr. Sanogo. To achieve this, the country has planned the construction of a school-factory, in partnership with Vietnam, to form "a skilled labor available to foreign investors." <br></p> <p>The sector has 250,000 producers grouped in twenty cooperatives and employs 1.5 million people directly or indirectly.<br></p><p></p>