In Côte d'Ivoire, the regulator of the cashew (or cashew) sector stepped up to the plate, on June 22, 2023, to put the current situation into perspective: the world's leading producer in the sector, Côte d'Ivoire is suffering from the vagaries of the market. internationally, marked by a drop in demand in the United States and Asia. Result: in recent months, several players in the sector have expressed their concerns about the risk of bankruptcy. Producers had to sell their cashews well below the official price. And yesterday, the Cotton and Cashew Council wanted to reassure the players in the field. " Offers to Côte d'Ivoire have fallen by 30% " Supporting figures, the Cotton and Cashew Council wishes to put the current situation into perspective. This year, production remains high: 1,102,000 tonnes of cashews. Newsletter Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox I subscribe According to this institution, a large part of this production – nearly 750,000 tonnes of cashew nuts – was able to be sold at the official price between February and April. Then, producers were faced with a significant drop in demand. Adama Coulibaly, director of the Cotton and Cashew Council, says: “ Offers to Côte d'Ivoire have fallen by 30%. And customers are offering between $900 and $1,050 per ton. That's a drop of about 30%. This is where the problems started. But we have emerging markets: China, which has therefore made it possible to maintain consumption at an acceptable level. » Nearly 100,000 tons of cashews are still in the hands of producers, says Adama Coulibaly. " He wants to minimize the extent of the difficulties ," says a producer who points out that farmers in remote areas sell their crops for three times less than the official price. The only point of consensus: “ The grouped sales organized by the State have made it possible to save a good part of the countryside â€, explains another peasant. Local processing factories, which are also going through difficulties, plead for a price stabilization mechanism, with early sales, like the cocoa sector.