Tanzania Cashew Season: A Buyer’s Guide

Tanzania is one of Africa’s largest raw cashew nut (RCN) producers, and the trade is concentrated geographically and structured institutionally in ways a first-time buyer needs to plan around before the season opens.

When the season happens

The harvest runs roughly October through January, with the heaviest volumes moving October–December and auctions typically starting early-to-mid November. Nearly all production is concentrated in the south: Mtwara alone accounts for about 47% of national planted area, and together Mtwara, Lindi and Pwani cover roughly 90% of the crop.

The warehouse receipt system

Since the mid-2000s, cashews have moved through a warehouse receipt system. A farmer delivers their crop to a licensed warehouse and receives a formal receipt certifying quality and quantity — bankable collateral that lets farmers or cooperatives borrow against stored crop while waiting for a buyer. Selling is handled through Agricultural Marketing Co-operative Societies (AMCOS), which pool farmer deliveries and sell the pooled lot at auction on farmers’ behalf.

How the auction actually works

Auctions run region by region — cooperative unions such as TANECU and MAMCU each run their own sessions — increasingly moving onto the Tanzania Mercantile Exchange (TMX) for online bidding. For the 2025/26 season, more than 45 companies registered to bid. Nationally, the government’s target for 2025/26 was 700,000 tonnes, up from 528,000 tonnes the prior season and just 236,213 tonnes in 2021/22.

A parallel channel: the primary market for local processors

Since around 2021, licensed domestic processors can buy raw cashews directly from AMCOS branches without bidding against exporters, provided the nuts are processed locally. This skips roughly TZS 206/kg in levies deducted in the standard auction channel, part of a push to raise local processing toward a 60% target.

What a first-time buyer should actually expect

Expect a gated, cooperative-mediated market: buying raw cashews at scale means bidding through AMCOS-run auctions against a competitive field of registered buyers. Expect delays: cooperative unions have reported cashews sitting unsold, and processors have cited payment delays and unclear permit procedures. Registration as a licensed buyer, and a relationship with a specific cooperative union in your target region, are the two prerequisites to get a seat at the table.