Knowledge · Market

Cashew Production by Country

Raw cashew nuts are grown mainly across West and East Africa and South/Southeast Asia. Processing has historically concentrated in Vietnam and India — a gap African origins are now closing.

Updated August 2026 · TTQ Co. Ltd.

In short

Global raw cashew nut (RCN) production is led by West African countries (Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau), East Africa (Tanzania, Mozambique), and Asia (India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia). Côte d’Ivoire is the largest RCN grower, while Vietnam and India have dominated processing and export of kernels. A major trend is African origin countries building their own processing capacity to capture more value at source rather than exporting raw nuts.

Production is measured in metric tons of in-shell nuts, with kernels representing about 20–25% of the weight after shelling. Global output reached roughly 3.66 million MT in 2020 and about 3.93 million MT by 2023 — a compound annual growth rate of some 3–4%. Africa accounts for over 60% of global production, while Asia (India and Vietnam) still dominates processing, importing raw nuts from Africa for kernel export.

Cashew production by country, 2020–2025

Country	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024 (est.)	2025 (est.)
Côte d’Ivoire	849	950	970	1,044	1,100	1,150
India	703	720	752	782	780	725
Vietnam	349	360	370	348	340	320
Benin	138	150	160	204	210	220
Tanzania	233	240	250	189	300	425
Indonesia	166	170	175	164	170	175
Mozambique	143	145	150	157	160	165
Burkina Faso	135	140	145	144	150	155
Philippines	256	250	240	136	140	145
Brazil	139	140	145	128	130	135
Ghana	89	95	100	116	120	125
Guinea-Bissau	120	115	110	115	120	125
Nigeria	92	95	100	88	90	95
Guinea	37	40	45	81	85	90
Mali	74	75	80	75	80	85
Global total	3,660	3,800	3,853	3,935	4,200	4,300

Thousand metric tons (kMT) of in-shell nuts. Source: FAO and supplementary data. 2024–2025 are preliminary estimates; 2021 figures are interpolated where direct FAO data is limited. <strong>Cambodia is absent deliberately.</strong> It is a large and fast-growing producer, but the great majority of its crop crosses into Vietnam as raw nuts and is counted there, so published Cambodian figures vary enormously depending on whether they measure harvest or export. We would rather leave the row out than publish a number we cannot reconcile — see the Cambodia factory guide for what is established.

Key trends, 2020–2025

Africa’s ascendancy

On the table above, Côte d’Ivoire grew 23% and Benin 48% between 2020 and 2023. Adding the African rows for 2023 gives 2,213 of 3,935 kMT — about 56% of world production, and rising. Burkina Faso, often listed alongside them, grew only 7% over the same period.

Climate volatility

unseasonal rains cut Vietnam roughly 6% in 2023, while irrigation investment stabilised Indian yields. Production still grew about 7.5% from 2020 to 2025.

Tanzania’s swing

Tanzania is the most volatile row on the table — 233 kMT in 2020, down to 189 by 2023, then estimated at 425 for 2025. The swings track the country’s warehouse-receipt auction system and weather more than they track yield, which is why a single year is a poor basis for sizing a plant there.

Processing localisation

Nigeria targets processing 50% of its domestic nuts, up from about 10% in 2020, to capture more value at origin.

Projections for 2026

Global production is forecast at about 4.69 million MT in 2026, roughly 9% above 2025, driven by African expansion and Asian recovery. Country projections: Côte d’Ivoire 1.3 million MT; India 750,000 MT; Vietnam 300,000 MT; Tanzania 450,000 MT; Cambodia continuing its rapid climb from a low base. Africa is projected to pass 60% of world share within the decade. Treat all of these as projections rather than measurements — the 2024 and 2025 columns above are already estimates, and cashew forecasts revise heavily when a single West African season disappoints.

Challenges and opportunities

Climate change is projected to cost 10–15% yield in vulnerable areas by 2030. The opportunity is value addition: local processing could add USD 2–3 billion annually to African economies, and sustainable certification is increasingly required for EU buyers.

Source & note

Production figures from FAO and supplementary industry data. The two headline totals measure different things and both are reproduced deliberately: 4.69 million MT is the 2026 forecast, while 5.21 million MT is 2025/26 season production. There is no fully verified annual dataset for global cashew output — forecast and season-production figures are consensus estimates, and they are labelled here as such rather than reconciled into a single number.

Region	Key producing countries	Role
West Africa	Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau	Largest RCN growers
East Africa	Tanzania, Mozambique	Major RCN growers
South Asia	India	Grower & large processor
Southeast Asia	Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia	Grower & leading processors
South America	Brazil	Regional grower & processor

Indicative — rankings shift year to year with harvests.

The value-capture shift

Countries that grow raw nuts increasingly want to process them locally to keep jobs and margin at home. That is exactly what TTQ enables — factory setup by country.

Answers

Frequently asked questions

Which country produces the most cashews?

Côte d’Ivoire is typically the largest producer of raw cashew nuts, while Vietnam and India lead in processing and kernel export.

Why do African countries export raw nuts?

Historically they lacked local processing capacity, so raw nuts were shipped to Asia. Many are now building their own plants to capture more value at source.

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