<p>After a fairly turbulent 2018 season with a very high minimum price (CFAF 1000 per kilogram) and a high smuggling estimated at around 50 000 tonnes to Senegal, the 2019 campaign was opened at the end of March with an indicative purchase price of FCFA 500 (€ 76) per kilo. The ambition of the Prime Minister is to export 200,000 tons of cashew mostly to India, but at least 150,000 tons could go to Vietnam. </p><p>However, taxes on raw cashew exports make cringe. " We regret the government's decision that could jeopardize the cashew campaign this year, " said Mamadu Yero Djamanca, president of Guinea-Bissau's National Association of Importers and Exporters (ANIE-GB). The tax on the export of agricultural products is CFAF 50 per kilo exported, plus a contribution for industrialization of the sector (ACI) set at 5% of the reference FOB price ($ 1222 per tonne). Thus, emphasizes the specialist N'Kalô, the obligatory levies amount to FCA 85.5 per kilo making of Guinea-Bissau, the second country which taxes most the export of raw cashew nuts in West Africa behind Côte d'Ivoire (FCFA 107 per kilo) and Benin (FCFA70 per kilo). While the cashew market is rather bleak (see Bad luck for cashew nuts in West Africa ) this policy could weigh on exports and encourage smuggling.</p> <p></p>