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CASHEW NUTS TRADING.. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW.

CASHEW NUT is an agro export crop. Though active to South America, it is cultivated in some parts of West, Middlebelt and Eastern Nigeria. Areas like Ogbomosho, Ilorin, Oyo, Anyigba, Enugu, Lafia, Keffi etc.

The cashew nut tree is mostly cultivated for its nuts: the raw cashew nut is gray in color with about 3mm thick shell, inside this shell is the edible kernel covered by a light brown skin. It is either exported as raw cashew nut, i.e. in-shell or as processed cashew nut kernel in special packaging.

Most raw cashew nut is exported to India and
Vietnam while the processed cashew kernel is
exported to Europe and America being the largest consumer in the world.

The crop season in Nigeria is from February - May. But trading is usually all year round, some traders usually store the raw cashew nuts and sell when it is out of season and scarce.

HANDLING.
A raw cashew nut that looks good on the outside may have bad kernel inside. The yield of the kernels, percentage of defective, average size of the nuts and moisture content are used to determine the quality of the nuts, which usually determines the price a buyer may offer for any raw cashew nut.
Hence effort should be made to improve or
conserve the expected good quality derived from proper handling.

THE FOLLOWING GOOD PRACTISE CAN HELP TO IMPROVE QUALITY OF CASHEW NUTS.

Do not harvest or pluck unripe cashew nuts because the kernel may be shriveled or immature. Hence, only mature and ripe cashew nuts should be harvested and this be done daily.

Do not let the nuts remain on the ground for more than a day before gathering to avoid long contact with soil moisture, sprouting and deterioration e.g. decay.

Sundry the harvested nuts as soon as possible for two or three days depending on the intensity of the sun.


Sundry on a clean surface and should be lightly spread (not higher than 3 inches) and turned regularly to allow uniform dryness.

Do not expose dry cashew nuts to moisture. This is a major requirement for agricultural commodities.

Use only jute bags to bag raw cashew nuts.
Do not heap it un-bagged or in plastic containers to avoid deterioration especially if not properly dried.

Do not bag it in poly-propylene bags.

QUALITY STANDARD.
Cashew nuts meant for export must be thoroughly dry and reasonably free from extraneous matter such as sticks, stalks and other vegetable matter other than cashew nuts. It must also be free from stones.

Total impurities (stones, sticks, stalks and other vegetable matter) shall not exceed 0.5% of 1kg sample analyzed.

NUT COUNTS:
170 – 180 ……………….. EXCELLENT
181 – 190 ……………….. VERY GOOD
191 – 200 ……………….. GOOD
201 – 210 ……………….. MIDDLE
211 – 220 ………………. LOW MIDDLE
221 – 230 ………………. LIMIT ACCEPTABLE
ABOVE 230 ………………. POOR.

Note: 170 – 210 nut count is usually the benchmark for exporting raw cashew nuts. But some importers may not be willing to buy RCN that is above 200 nut counts.

In Nigeria, the nut count per 1kg sample varies from zone to zone. While zones like Ogbomosho has between 170 and 180/185, kogi – 190 to 205/210, ondo – 190 to 205/210, Ilorin – 190 to 205, lafia/keffi
– 200 to 210, etc.

MOISTURE.
Exportable quality shall not be more than 10%. You have to make sure the raw cashew nuts are properly sundried and the moisture content must be properly analyzed.

KERNEL OUT-TURN RATION (KOR)
It is the quality of good nut we get from 80kg of raw cashew nuts. The count is in pound per 80kg.

KOR REMARK
48 – 55 EXCELLENT
45 – 47 GOOD
40 – 44 AVERAGE
BELOW 40 LOW/POOR

DEFECTIVES
Diseased or mouldy – shall include all nuts which when cut reveal the presence of fungi growth or a milky patch or a spread of brown or black spot on the split kernel. This is often caused by high moisture for several days prior to proper dryings, wrong packing and
improper storage.

BROWN RANCID ROTTEN (BRR) – shall include all brown, rancid, rotten and discolored kernels which are light yellowish in color. This is caused by similar factors listed above.

VOID – these are nuts which show absence of
kernel, emptiness or absence of a kernel of useful size. This is probably caused by natural
malformation.

IMMATURE/SHRIVELED – shall include all nuts which when cut contain space between the kernel and the shell, shrink or contain kernel that is not fully developed. This is caused by harvesting immature nuts.

SPOTTED – shall include all nuts which show the presence of a black or brown spot on the kernel.
This is caused by insect bite at the early stages of the development of the nuts.

INSECT DAMAGE (WEEVILLED) – shall include all cashew nuts which when cut show a state of insect attack or weevilled or presence of bead-like or powdery particles. Poor storage condition is responsible for this.

CHECK TEST FOR QUALITY
Carrying out a quality check test on cashew nuts like every other agricultural export produce begins with proper sampling. Samples shall be drawn from not less than 30% of consignment, sample shall be
properly mixed, reduced and from which 1kg
sample is drawn for analysis which include
moisture, nut count, defectives and finally KOR.

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT METHODS:
The quality of a bad cashew nut consignment can be improved by hand picking.

HAND PICKING – means picking or removing all suspected cashew nuts such as very small nuts, light weight nuts apparently rotten, broken or wounded nuts out of the consignment.

MORE TO COME... KEEP FOLLOWING.

CHECK OUT MY EBOOK ON CASHEW :

1. A COMPREHENSIVE TEXTBOOK ON CASHEW NUTS TRADING = #2500 (TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED NAIRA ONLY)

2. BUSINESS PLAN AND PROPOSAL ON CASHEW NUTS TRADING FOR LOCAL TRADERS, IMPORTERS & EXPORTERS = #4000 (FOUR THOUSAND NAIRA ONLY)

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