Nigeria’s leading commodities market player, AFEX, has released a report on cashew nuts, highlighting the growing global demands for the commodity. “Cashew nut is a major commodity with high potential to generate foreign exchange and to create employment, as well as curb desertification in Nigeria,” the AFEX report said. The report said cashew is an important industrial raw material with rising demand in the confectioneries, food, and beverage industries globally. AFEX in the report titled Commodity Focus: raw cashew nuts, said cashew nuts have the potential to contribute to Nigeria’s non-oil export value and FX earnings from non-oil exports. “Cashew production, processing, and export create enormous potentials for boosting Nigeria’s non-oil export value and FX earnings from non-oil exports. Amid slow-paced GDP growth and declining GDP per capita, value addition in the cashew value chain has a direct impact on achieving poverty reduction – one critical SDG,” the report said. Related News AFEX advocates for digital financial inclusion for smallholder farmers AFEX partners SWAgCo, Ogun State to develop staple crop zone We have valid warrant to search AFEX warehouse - Police The report pointed out that consumers’ growing preference for healthier snacks and their increased preference for food products that are environmentally friendly and ethically sourced present opportunities for Nigerian processors, the report said. According to the report, global export volumes grew by 71% from 2010 to 2019, growing at a CAGR of 6% (Y-o-Y). Export values, also, showed a 106% increase between 2010 & 2019, growing at a CAGR of 8% annually. While Nigeria grows most of the world’s raw cashews, the country only processes a fraction of them, missing out on opportunities offered by rising global demand. The report highlighted the potential for cashews to contribute to Nigeria’s non-oil export value and FX earnings from non-oil exports. Between 2000 and 2018, world trade in raw cashew nuts more than doubled to 2.1 billion kilograms. The report further urged the Nigerian government to increase the country’s processing capacity in order to fix the huge imbalance between the amount of cashew exported out of the country and the amount processed in Nigeria and ultimately, increase the value gained from the cashew.