Africa supplies over 60 percent of the world’s raw cashew nuts, yet Vietnam processed its way to $4.37 billion in export earnings from cashew kernels in 2024, marking its 18th consecutive year as the global leader in cashew processing and export. The Southeast Asian nation, which grows less than 10 percent of the cashews it processes, imported more than 3 million tonnes of raw cashews in 2023, with 2.2 million tonnes originating directly from African farms.

Côte d’Ivoire alone shipped 81 percent of its entire cashew harvest to Vietnam, while Ghana, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso contributed substantially to the remaining volumes. Vietnam spent approximately $2 billion acquiring Africa’s raw nuts, subsequently reselling processed kernels at $6,003 per tonne to markets including the United States, Europe, China, and the Middle East. The farm-gate price paid to Ivorian farmers stands at roughly $500 to $700 per tonne, representing an 8.5-fold value gap from African farms to European retail shelves.

The processing, branding, and certification premiums that generate billions in revenue are captured entirely in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, not in Abidjan, Accra, or Dar es Salaam. Africa’s structural underinvestment in processing infrastructure has created a vacuum that Vietnam filled through disciplined industrial strategy, capital allocation, and targeted policy interventions. The continent then imports processed cashew products, effectively buying back in packaged form the very commodity it exported raw, with South Africa’s nut snack retail market alone reaching ZAR 1.2 billion in 2023, much of it sourced from Vietnamese and Indian processors.

The Brandspur Banking News Desk reports that significant shifts are underway across West and East Africa. Côte d’Ivoire has expanded its kernel processing capacity from 103,000 metric tonnes in 2020 to 345,000 metric tonnes in 2024, representing a fivefold increase achieved through export levies, processor subsidies, and dedicated industrial zones. Ghana is targeting 85,000 metric tonnes of processing capacity by 2026, while Tanzania is attracting foreign direct investment into processing facilities.

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Industry analysts note that the United States imposed a 46 percent tariff on Vietnamese cashew kernels in April 2025, creating a $1.2 billion opportunity for African certified processors to enter the American market. The tariff differential effectively levels the playing field for African processors who can now compete more favourably on price in one of the world’s largest cashew-consuming markets.

Agricultural economists emphasise that capturing value requires coordinated export tax frameworks across ECOWAS member states, development of industrial processing zones, and vocational training programmes to reduce kernel breakage rates from the current 40 percent to the global benchmark of 25 percent. Fairtrade, BRC, and organic certifications must become standard practice rather than premium differentiators.

Market experts project that moving beyond kernel processing into cashew butter, cashew milk, and branded consumer snacks could generate three times the revenue per tonne compared to raw nut exports. The African cashew industry stands at a strategic inflection point where processing capacity expansion, certification upgrades, and value-added product development could fundamentally reshape the continent’s position in the global cashew value chain.

The structural transformation requires sustained policy commitment, private sector investment, and regional coordination to ensure that the continent that feeds the world’s cashew supply chain stops being paid at the beginning of it.