Cashew Yield & Quality Calculator
Estimate outturn, yield and grade value
How cashew outturn is measured — the sample procedure, the 80 kg bag convention, and the two different KOR numbers the trade uses — plus TTQ’s online calculator for quick estimates.
A cashew calculator estimates the economics of processing: from a quantity of raw cashew nuts and a kernel outturn ratio, it projects kernel output, the likely grade mix (wholes vs broken) and indicative value. The catch is that "KOR" means two different things — a buying number measured in pounds per 80 kg bag, and a production number measured in kilograms per 100 kg of RCN — and mixing them up is the most common costing error in the trade. This page sets out both, with the sample procedure behind the first.
KOR means two different things
This is the single most useful distinction on the page, and getting it wrong is how buyers overpay for raw nuts and how project reports overstate output.
Quality-check KOR — for buying RCN
kernel outturn measured on a sample and expressed in pounds of recoverable kernel per 80 kg bag of raw nuts. The typical trading range is 42–52 lbs. This is the number that prices a consignment, and it is a laboratory measure taken on a cut sample, not a factory result.
Production KOR — for running a factory
kilograms of final, packed, saleable kernel per 100 kg of RCN actually processed, after shelling, peeling and grading losses and after rejects. Typically 22–24 kg per 100 kg. This is the number to plan working capital, staffing and revenue against.
Never compare one to the other
48 lbs per 80 kg bag works out at roughly 27% laboratory outturn. A production KOR of 22–24% is the realistic factory yield, and it is lower because it counts only what you can actually sell. A supplier quoting the first number against your second is not comparing like with like.
How the sample is taken
Outturn is measured, not estimated. The procedure below is the conventional one used across the trade; it is what the online calculator assumes you have done before you type a number into it.
- Draw a representative sample from across the lot — several bags, top and bottom, not one convenient scoop.
- Count the nuts per kilogram. A normal range is 150–240 nuts/kg; a higher count means smaller nuts and, generally, a lower outturn.
- Check moisture at intake. Raw nuts should be at 7–10%. Wetter nuts carry water you are paying for and risk mould in storage; drier nuts have brittle shells that shatter at cutting.
- Cut the sample and separate whole kernels, brokens and defective nuts.
- Apply the 0.75 convention — sample kernel weight in kg × 0.75 gives the conventional outturn basis used for trading. It discounts the raw kernel weight to something closer to what survives to a saleable state.
- Reject on defects. Above about 24% defective nuts the lot is normally rejected outright rather than repriced — at that level the good nuts do not pay for handling the bad ones.
The 80 kg jute bag is the trading standard for raw cashew nuts, which is why quality-check outturn is expressed per bag rather than per tonne. When a broker quotes "52 outturn", that is 52 lbs of recoverable kernel from one 80 kg bag.
Working the numbers through
Plan against the production number. One tonne of RCN at a 22–24% production KOR gives roughly 220–240 kg of packed, saleable kernel — and only part of that is white wholes, which is where the price premium sits. Splitting that output by expected grade mix, rather than treating it as one average price, is what turns a yield figure into a revenue figure.
TTQ maintains an online Cashew Quality Calculator for outturn and quality estimates. For a full costed model of a plant, request a project report. For grade definitions and counts see cashew grades.
The process, drawn
KOR means two different things
Both are called "kernel outturn ratio". They are not interchangeable, and comparing one to the other is the most common costing error in the trade.
- Measured on a sample Cut, separated, weighed
- Pounds per 80 kg bag 42–52 lbs
- Laboratory outturn 48 lbs ≈ 27%
- Prices the consignment What the broker quotes
- Measured across the plant After every loss and reject
- kg per 100 kg of RCN 22–24 kg
- Realistic factory yield Counts only saleable output
- Sizes working capital What you plan against
These are two different measures — do not compare one to the other. Production KOR is lower because it counts only what you can actually sell, after shelling, peeling and grading losses.
Frequently asked questions
What is cashew KOR?
How do I calculate cashew processing yield?
What outturn is a good raw nut lot?
Related reading & machines
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