Since 2015, Ivory Coast has ranked as the world’s largest cashew nut producer. The country, whose harvest exceeded 1.5 million tonnes, has also accelerated growth in local processing capacity.
For 2025, export revenues from processed cashew nuts should reach a new milestone. According to statements by Mamadou Berte, director of the Cotton and Cashew Council (CCA), cashew kernel sales should reach CFA350 billion, or about US$623 million, during the year. The figure represents a 67% increase from the previous result of CFA209 billion.
This projected increase reflected the strong expansion of processing activity. Industrial processors should raise processed cashew volumes to 659,579 tonnes in 2025, compared with 344,028 tonnes in 2024, representing 91.7% growth. In the West African Economic and Monetary Union’s largest economy, operators now run 37 processing units with total installed capacity of 830,000 tonnes, compared with fewer than 10 plants in 2015, supported by rising domestic and foreign investment encouraged by fiscal and non-fiscal incentives.
As authorities targeted local processing of 50% of national output by 2030, Berte said about 10 new projects should soon add 200,000 tonnes of additional capacity to the industry.
Ivory Coast, which ranked as the world’s second-largest exporter of cashew kernels after Vietnam, produced about 1.5 million tonnes of raw cashew nuts in 2025, compared with 944,673 tonnes in 2024 and 1.2 million tonnes in 2023, according to CCA data.
