Industry sources said that a number of African countries including Mozambique were toying with the idea of putting a complete ban on the export of raw cashew in a bid to protect their processing industry.

Taking the lead, Mozambique parliament has bene considering a legislation banning raw cashew exports to save its cashew processing industry.

Following acute raw nut scarcity Mozambique's cashew industry is facing a sever crisis and a number of processing units have already closed shops. Of the 14 big cashew processing factories in Mozambique only a handful are functioning now. Others have ceased operation following non-availability of raw nuts, the source said.Mozambique's total cashew production declined sharply to 12,000 tonnes in 1997-98 from a high of 28,000 tonnes three years back.

Mozambique was the third largest supplier of raw cashew nuts to India with the total imports touching at 28,100 tonnes in 1996-97. Tanzania is the biggest supplier of raw nuts to India with the total imports at 64,355 tonnes, sources said. Vietnam, which used to be one of the major source of raw cashew for the Indian industry, has stopped exporting raw nuts last year. This follows Vietnam's foray into global cashew market with value addition. Vietnam has set up a string of cashew processing factories to process raw nuts. Indian cashew industry has been finding its going tough following acute shortage of raw nuts. Indian cashew production is estimated to have declined by 40 per cent in the current season compared to the corresponding period last year. The domestic production of cashew during the last season stood at 4.3 lakh tonnes. This means that the total production of rawcashew in the current season will be around 2.6 lakh tonnes, down by 1.7 lakh tonnes. This is the lowest ever production of the commodity during the last decade.

Following the tight supply scene and increased competition from countries like Vietnam the total import of raw cashew nut during the April-October 1998 had declined by over 22 per cent to 84,343 MT from 1,08,422 MT during the same period last year. The decline was also reflected in the exports valued in US dollar terms. The total exports have declined to $ 232.85 million in April-October 1998 from $ 236.64 in April-October 1997. With the supply of raw nuts shrinking day by day the exports had taken a beating in the immediate past. The total quantity exported during the April-October 1998 stood at 47,788 MT as against 47,407 MT during the April-October 1997, registering a meager growth of 0.8 per cent.