<p>Traders refuse to bring stocks owing to slapping of import duty <br></p> <p>Even as the annual March-June raw cashew nut season in the West African country of Ivory Coast has drawn to a close, no major raw nut consignment has reached the processing units in the State though processors here had booked consignments by paying huge amounts as advance through Africa-based traders. This has resulted in an acute scarcity of raw nuts in the processing units in the State.Usually processors here book consignments a year ahead of the season in African countries.The amount for the entire quantity required is paid in advance to traders. But when the season commenced, the Kerala-based processors told the traders not to despatch any consignments. <br></p><p>Stocks diverted</p> <p>The slapping of 10 per cent import duty on raw nuts is cited as the reason for the decision.Almost all consignments meant for Kerala factories have been diverted to Vietnam, the leading cashew processing country now.The processors here who had paid advance ranging from Rs.1 crore to Rs.8 crore find their money stuck with the traders and are not sure whether it will be returned.Now the raw nut season in Guinea Bissau has commenced. Some of the processors have gone to Guinea Bissau to take possession of their consignments and divert them to Vietnam.Guinea Bissau produces about 1.40 lakh tonnes of raw cashew a year and a good majority of it used to reach Kerala.The nuts of Guinea Bissau are in high demand because of the high outturn. An 80 kg Guinea Bissau raw nut bag will give an outturn of 22 kg of kernels on processing.The import duty has come as a big blow to the processors in the State where processing costs are high.They say that the import duty imposed in March has made cashew processing unviable in the State.<br></p><br>