In Burkina Faso, President Ibrahim Traoré took everyone by surprise by deciding to suspend cashew nut exports. "The measure comes into force with immediate effect throughout the national territory until further notice ," according to an interministerial press release signed on March 28 and made public on April 2, 2025. "In order to make available raw cashew nuts used as raw material by industrial processing units at the national level, the export of raw cashew nuts is suspended throughout the national territory until further notice ," the press release reads. "This decision is part of a vision of creating added value, jobs and economic sovereignty ," commented the Burkinabe Cashew Council. To this end, it "called on all stakeholders to respect the measure for the harmonious development of the sector . "This year, the authorities set the minimum purchase price for raw cashew nuts from planters at 385 CFA francs (about $0.62) per kilogram, compared to 310 CFA francs (about $0.50) in 2024. Burkina Faso has produced an average of 200,000 tonnes of cashew nuts over the past five years. Cashew nuts have positioned themselves in second place among Burkina Faso's agricultural export products in 2023 with more than 120,000 tonnes sold on the foreign market for more than 60 billion CFA francs (around 95 million dollars), according to data from the Burkinabe Cashew Council ," the same source reports. In Burkina Faso, this decision taken by Ibrahim Traoré, which relates to the suspension of cashew nut exports, has been widely commented on by the local press.