<p>Top cashew producer Ivory Coast is to open three new processing plants with the aim of tripling its output of shelled nuts by next year, its Cotton-Cashew Council said Tuesday.</p> <p>The African country last year produced a record one million tonnes of nuts, up from 850 000 tonnes in 2019, but just 10 percent have so far been processed domestically.</p> <p><br /> Ivory Coast aims to process more of its own crop for sale in the huge American market.</p> <p>Until now, most of the nuts have been shelled abroad then shipped to the US at an exorbitant cost.</p> <p><br /> "The agribusiness sites of Brobo, Yamoussouko and Bondoukou aim to process 300,000 tonnes annually from 2022," said Karim Berthe, the director of processing at the Cotton-Cashew Council.</p> <p>"These new facilities should boost the domestic processing rate from 10 to 30-40 percent."</p> <p>Cashew kernels are used in cooking and cosmetics, while resin from the shells has various industrial uses, including as a fluid for aircraft braking systems -- earning the nut its nickname of "grey gold".</p> <p>The cashew apple is also used to produce wine, liqueur, syrup, jam and juice.</p> <p>Ivory Coast, which counts some 250,000 cashew nut producers organised into around 20 cooperatives, ultimately hopes to shell half its cashew nuts by 2025.</p> <p>The Ivorian government and the World Bank in 2018 inked a deal to set up four processing sites at a total cost of $200 million.</p> <p>Until now the country's raw nuts have been shipped to India, Vietnam and Brazil to be processed.</p> <p>Key consumers include India, the United States, the European Union, China, the United Arab Emirates and Australia.</p>