Raw Cashew Nuts (RCN, In-Shell)

In-shell RCN by outturn (KOR lbs/80 kg), nut count & moisture

Raw cashew nuts (RCN, HS 0801.31) are the in-shell nut sold to shelling factories, and the price is set by what the nut will yield. The contract runs on three numbers from a cutting test on a sample: outturn, or kernel outturn ratio (KOR), expressed as pounds of kernel per 80 kg bag of raw nut; nut count per kg; and moisture. In common trade guidance 47-50 lbs per 80 kg is a good outturn at full price, 50-54 lbs is excellent and earns a premium, and below 43 lbs is poor and discounted or rejected; nut count usually sits between about 150 and 240 per kg; and moisture is contracted at no more than 10%, with defective nuts kept under about 10%. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations under HS 0801.31 total USD 2.75 billion across reporters: Côte d'Ivoire USD 790 million and 732,196 MT, Tanzania USD 542 million and 428,295 MT, Cambodia USD 500 million and 449,592 MT, Nigeria USD 214 million and 236,189 MT, and Ghana USD 201 million and 296,823 MT, at average values between about USD 680 and 1,270 per MT. Guinea-Bissau does not appear in the 2024 declarations but runs an annual export campaign.

Each origin sells RCN under its own marketing system, and the rules change by season. In Côte d'Ivoire exporters need an approval from the Conseil du Coton et de l'Anacarde for each campaign under Decree 2013-812, the 2026 campaign opened on 6 February 2026 with a minimum farmgate price of CFA 400/kg, and the country has used temporary export suspensions and priority buying windows for local processors, so the current status is confirmed before any contract. In Tanzania, RCN is sold through the warehouse receipt system at cooperative-union auctions run on the Tanzania Mercantile Exchange online system, mainly from October to January; nuts bought in the separate primary market by licensed local processors must be processed in Tanzania and cannot be exported. Ghana requires a Tree Crops Development Authority permit to export unprocessed cashew, and in February 2026 the President announced that raw cashew exports will end, so Ghanaian RCN is checked against the rule in force on the day. Guinea-Bissau opened its 2026 campaign in March 2026 with a reference producer price of CFA 410/kg. Nigeria replaced a proposed RCN export ban with a processing roadmap. Benin has banned RCN exports since April 2024 and Burkina Faso suspended them in March 2025, so those crops reach buyers as kernel. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers RCN from licensed exporters in these origins to shelling factories, against a pre-shipment cutting test (KOR, nut count, moisture, defectives) by an independent inspector, a phytosanitary certificate, a fumigation certificate, a certificate of origin and the origin's export authorisation. RCN ships in 80 kg jute bags in 20-ft and 40-ft containers on FOB, CFR and CIF terms. Send the origin, crop year, KOR, nut count, moisture, volume and discharge port, and the enquiry is screened and worked against it.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.