Mozambique will have 17 cashew processing plants with the start-up of two new units, according to the director of the Cashew Development Institute (Incaju).
Ilídio Bande told Mozambican daily newspaper Notícias in Maputo that there are 15 factories in operation, which together have the capacity to process 80,000 tons of cashews per year.
However, he continued, the 15 units are processing only between 48,000 and 50,000 tons per year.
The two factories under construction in the Macia, Gaza and Massinga districts of Inhambane will add capacity to process 10,000 tons of cashew per year, with one owned by Mozambican and Portuguese investors and the other by Vietnamese investors.
Cashew nut production in Mozambique in 2017 was around 130,000 tons, but the great challenge is to reach about 180,000 tons by 2020, when it is believed that the country can process at least half of that.
