Recently, the General Administration of Customs of China officially issued Announcement No. 123 of 2024, allowing the import of Mozambique cashews and macadamia nuts that meet relevant requirements from today on.
The allowed imports of Mozambique cashew nuts and macadamia nuts refer to cashew nuts and macadamia nuts that are made from mature fruits of cashew trees and Hawaiian fruit trees grown in Mozambique and processed through selection, drying, and other techniques for human consumption.
About 90% of the un shelled cashews traded on the global market come from tropical climate zones in 20 West and East African countries, with the largest production coming from Ivory Coast, followed by Tanzania, Nigeria, Benin, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, and Ghana. The cashew nut shelling rate on the African continent is less than 15%. Between 2024 and 2018, 98% of the world's cashew nuts with shells were exported to India and Vietnam, and cashew nuts were re exported after being shelled.
The climate in Mozambique is favorable for the production of macadamia nuts, but the local industry is still in its infancy. In 2021, the production of shelled macadamia nuts in Mozambique was between 1500-2500 tons, mainly exported to South African processing plants for re export of nuts, or directly exported with shells. By the end of 2023, Niassa Province in northern Mozambique plans to restore a large amount of degraded and unused land for planting macadamia nuts, while establishing the first macadamia nut processing plant locally.
The announcement shows that Mozambique's cashew nuts exported to China must not contain the following quarantine pests of concern to China: cotton thorn stink bug, East African eucalyptus thorn stink bug, East African cocoa edge stink bug, black helmeted scale bug, anthracnose fungus, and grain spot bark beetle. The macadamia fruit must not carry: apple shaped small roller moth, South African orange thrips, East African cocoa edge bug, flower horned green bug, cotton thorn blind bug, and grain spot bark beetle.
Cashew nuts and macadamia nuts exported from Mozambique to China must not contain live insects, insect eggs, soil, or impurities such as weed seeds, plant residues, metal foreign objects, and gravel. And fumigation treatment is required to ensure that cashews and macaques do not contain live insects, especially storage pests.