Trump tariff threats slow purchases of Ivory Coast's cashews, minister says

ABIDJAN, April 17 (Reuters) - Taxes imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration have slowed international purchases of Ivory Coast's cashews, Agriculture Minister Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani said on Thursday.

Last week, the Trump administration announced, then paused, sweeping tariffs on dozens of countries, including Ivory Coast, which faced a tariff of 21%, the highest in West Africa.

Meanwhile, Ivory Coast's largest cashew buyer, Vietnam, was hit with 46% tariffs but is in talks with the White House to lower it to about 22%.

Ivory Coast is the world's top cocoa producer and has also become the world's largest cashew nut grower in recent years. Vietnam usually buys 80% of Ivory Coast's cashew production, of which 60% is re-exported to the United States.

The West African country projects to produce 1.15 million tonnes of cashew this year. As of March 15, about 900,000 tonnes have been bought from farmers compared with 509,000 tonnes last year in the same period, Adjoumani said.

But purchases have stalled since the tariffs were announced, Adjoumani said, leaving cashew farmers with around 250,000 tonnes of unbought cashews.

"Buyers coming from Vietnam are worried, and this has slowed down purchases," said Adjoumani, adding that Ivory Coast was struggling to find a solution to collect this amount from farmers. Still, the country was seeking other markets like China.

The marketing season of the cashew opening was January 18, with a guaranteed farm gate price of 425 CFA francs ($0.7411) per kilogram.

Adjoumani added that the local processors had collected 600,000 tonnes of cashew nuts.

($1 = 573.5000 CFA francs)