Traders threaten to boycott commercialization of Guinea-Bissau's cashew nuts

BISSAU, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Guinea-Bissau's association of importers and exporters threaten to boycott the commercialization of cashew nuts in 2013, the West African country's main export product, if a tax adopted in 2011 is not suspended.

The association's chairman, Mamadou Yero Djamanca, who addressed the press in Bissau on Sunday, urged the transition government to suspend the collection of the tax that was instituted by the deposed government of Carlos Gomes Junior.

The ex-government imposed a tax of 50 FCFA (0.1 U. S. dollar) per kg of cashew nuts to be exported, saying the tax was meant to promote the industrialization of production.

Djamanca on his part insisted that the suspension of the taxation will enable exporters to have enough financial capacity to buy and export cashew nuts.

In 2012, Guinea-Bissau exported 120,000 tons of cashew nuts, a drop from the 174,000 tons exported in 2011.

At the same time, Djamanca recommended that the 30 million U.S. dollars that was generated through the Fund for Promotion of Agricultural Industrialization created in 2012 should be given to the intermediaries to save the current season of cashew farming. The fund is managed by the government and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

This year, the transition government has decided to maintain all fees being levied during the commercialization of cashew nuts, but without fixing a specific price per kg.

India is the biggest buyer of Guinea-Bissau's cashew nuts, importing over 80 percent of the product.