<p></p><p>The government of Guinea-Bissau intends to increase the export of cashews from 150,000 to 200,000 tons in the annual sales campaign started Saturday, announced the Minister of Trade, Serifo Embaló. <br></p> <p>The minister said the government would focus on markets such as Vietnam and China (beyond the main buyer of cashews, which is India) and is expected to impose added measures to prevent smuggling. <br></p> <p>The Trade Minister admitted that there was “a lot of contraband” in the 2014 campaign via “parallel routes” to Senegal, giving a speech in March at the Guinean parliament. <br></p> <p>Any operator who is caught this year illegally exporting cashews will have their truck and merchandise confiscated by the State as well as paying a fine, the minister said, according to Portuguese news agency Lusa. <br></p> <p>The official opening ceremony of this year’s cashew sales and export campaign, promoted by the Ministry of Trade and Crafts, was held Saturday in São Domingos (northern Guinea-Bissau). <br></p> <p>Among other measures for this year’s campaign, the minister mentioned the opening of four weigh bridges in Bissau, to avoid queues of trucks in the downtown area of the country’s capital towards the commercial port, and a requirement for exporters to submit an export document before loading their product onto a ship.<br></p><br><p></p>