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Guinea-Bissau occupies a unique position in global agricultural trade. This small West African nation of 2.2 million people is one of the world's top eight producers of raw cashew nuts, with export revenues exceeding USD 219 million in 2023. For international buyers seeking traceable, high-outturn cashew nuts at competitive farmgate prices, Guinea-Bissau offers an unmatched combination of volume, quality, and direct-sourcing opportunity. Approximately 69% of the country's smallholder farmers cultivate cashew, and the 2025 harvest is projected at 260,000 metric tonnes — an 18% year-on-year increase.
Beyond cashew, Guinea-Bissau's coastal geography and riverine zones support palm kernel production, artisanal fisheries, mangoes, and groundnuts — commodities with growing demand across European, Middle Eastern, and Asian markets. The country's three agroecological zones (North, East, and South) each contribute distinct crop profiles, while the Port of Bissau serves as the primary export gateway. For importers focused on West African supply chain diversification, Guinea-Bissau's buyer-friendly regulatory environment and ANCA-GB licensing framework provide a structured entry point.
Capital: Bissau | Population: ~2.2 million | Main Export Port: Port of Bissau (APGB) | Currency: West African CFA Franc (XOF) | Regulatory Body: National Cashew Agency (ANCA-GB) | Key Certifications: Phytosanitary Certificate (DGASP), ANCA-GB Export Licence | Primary Markets: India, Vietnam, Singapore, EU, Turkey
| Product | Key Region | Primary Markets | Key Compliance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw Cashew Nuts | North Zone (55%), East Zone (27%) | India, Vietnam, Singapore, EU | ANCA-GB Licence, DGASP Phytosanitary Cert |
| Palm Kernel Oil | Southern Zone, Cacheu Region | EU, India, Malaysia | DGASP Cert, SGS Pre-shipment Inspection |
| Mangoes | Bafatá, Gabú Regions | EU, Senegal, Guinea | GlobalG.A.P. (emerging), Phytosanitary Cert |
| Groundnuts | Eastern Agroecological Zone | EU (oil pressing), Senegal | Aflatoxin testing, DGASP Cert |
Comafrique Agro-Export is one of Guinea-Bissau's most established cashew trading houses, operating from Bissau's Bandim commercial district with direct procurement agreements across the North Zone's key growing communities in Canchungo, Farim, and Mansoa. The company holds an active ANCA-GB export licence and works exclusively with aggregator networks that use pre-season financing to lock in farmgate supply before the April campaign opens.
Buyers benefit from Comafrique's in-house quality control lab, which assesses kernel outturn ratio (KOR) and moisture content on arrival at the warehouse. The company exports standard 80 kg jute bags and can arrange SGS or Intertek pre-shipment inspection. Primary destinations are processing facilities in Nhava Sheva (India) and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam). FOB Bissau pricing with 60-day payment terms available for vetted importers.
SOPALM Guinea-Bissau is the country's leading palm kernel processor and exporter, operating extraction facilities in the Cacheu and Biombo regions where oil palm cultivation is concentrated. The company sources from smallholder farmers through village collection centres and applies a cold-pressing process that preserves the oil's fatty acid profile — a quality marker demanded by European cosmetics and food processors.
Export volumes reach approximately 3,000 tonnes of palm kernel oil per campaign year, shipped in ISO tank containers or 200-litre steel drums. The company holds a DGASP phytosanitary certificate and an EC-compliant food safety dossier. Buyers in the Netherlands, Germany, and the United Kingdom are primary customers. Pre-shipment inspection by Bureau Veritas is offered as standard for orders exceeding 20 metric tonnes.
TCE is a Bissau-based trading company with a multi-commodity portfolio covering raw cashew nuts, groundnuts, and dried mangoes. Founded in 2011, the company has built long-term relationships with buying agents in Singapore, Turkey, and France. Its warehouse complex at the Bandim logistics hub holds capacity for 5,000 tonnes of cashew per season, enabling year-round supply to counter-seasonal buyers.
TCE is registered with GIEPA (Guinea-Bissau Investment and Export Promotion Agency) and participates in the ITC-supported cooperative financing programme that provides pre-export credit against confirmed purchase orders. The company can provide CITES-compliant documentation for certain botanical products and has experience managing shipments through both Conakry (Guinea) and Dakar (Senegal) as alternative routing options when Bissau port capacity is constrained.
Agribissau Exportadores is a Bafatá-based company specialising in high-KOR cashew nuts from the Eastern agroecological zone, where lower humidity and sandy soils produce nuts with superior outturn ratios averaging 50–52 lbs per 80 kg bag. The company has been exporting since 2009 and currently ships to four Indian processors and two Vietnamese factories under annual forward contracts.
A secondary product line covers fresh mangoes (Kent and local Manga Preta varieties) exported by air to Dakar and Abidjan for onward distribution. Agribissau has begun transitioning 200 ha of its contracted farmer base toward organic-compatible practices (no synthetic pesticides or fertilisers), targeting EU organic equivalence certification by 2027. Buyers can request farm-level GPS coordinates for supply chain mapping.
Guiné Export Internacional focuses on value-added processing within Guinea-Bissau, offering roasted and blanched cashew kernels in addition to raw cashew nut exports. The company operates a small processing unit in the Bissau Industrial Zone, producing W240, W320, and W450 kernel grades for EU snack food manufacturers and Middle Eastern distributors. Processing capacity is currently 500 tonnes of finished kernels per year.
The groundnut division sources from Gabú region farms and exports cleaned, aflatoxin-tested kernels (B1 ≤4 ppb for EU compliance) in 25 kg polypropylene bags. The company works with an SGS-accredited laboratory in Dakar for pre-shipment aflatoxin testing. Primary markets for groundnut kernels are the UK, Netherlands, and Spain.
Marisec combines artisanal fisheries exports with agricultural produce, reflecting Guinea-Bissau's coastal economy. The company operates from Cacheu, near the Cacheu River Mangroves — one of West Africa's richest fisheries zones. Dried and salted fish (grouper, barracuda, sea bass) are exported to Senegal, Guinea, and Portugal, while surplus seasonal cashew is traded through Dakar.
The company participates in the UNIDO-supported artisanal fisheries value chain improvement project, which has upgraded post-harvest storage and cold-chain handling at Cacheu's main landing site. For agricultural buyers, Marisec can co-load cashew and dried mango in Dakar-bound containers, providing a cost-effective routing option for buyers who require smaller lots of 5–20 tonnes.
Caju de Ouro (Golden Cashew) is a farmer cooperative-affiliated exporter operating from Gabú in the Eastern Zone, where 27% of Guinea-Bissau's cashew area is concentrated. The cooperative model — supported by ITC and the Enhanced Integrated Framework — gives member farmers pre-season financing, fair price transparency, and a guaranteed collective marketing channel. The exporter arm handles warehousing, quality grading, and port logistics.
Caju de Ouro is pursuing Fairtrade International certification, with an audit scheduled for late 2026. This positions the company as a preferred supplier for EU retailers and specialty food brands seeking traceable, ethically sourced West African cashews. Current annual export volume is 8,000–10,000 tonnes of raw cashew. GPS coordinates and farmer ID records are available for supply chain due diligence requests.
BissauGrain specialises in groundnut products and sesame seeds, two commodities that are gaining export momentum as Guinea-Bissau diversifies beyond cashew. The company works with farmer groups in the Oio and Cacheu regions, sourcing groundnut kernels and decorticated sesame through village aggregation points. Groundnut oil pressing is done in Bissau, with crude oil exported to West African markets and refined kernels sent to Europe.
Sesame exports (natural white, 99.95% purity, moisture ≤6%) are packed in 25 kg woven polypropylene bags and shipped via Dakar Port. Quality testing includes aflatoxin (B1 ≤4 ppb), moisture, and oil content, with certificates from an ISO-accredited laboratory. BissauGrain is seeking GlobalG.A.P. certification to access EU retail supply chains for packaged sesame and groundnut products.
Archipelago Tropical Fruits operates from Bolama Island in Guinea-Bissau's Bijagós Archipelago, sourcing cashew apples, mangoes, tamarind, and baobab fruit from island-based smallholder farmers. The cashew apple — the false fruit attached to the cashew nut — is dried and processed into snack products and cashew apple concentrate, a niche product gaining interest from European health food importers.
The company has invested in solar-powered drying technology to reduce post-harvest losses, a longstanding challenge for island-based producers. Dried cashew apple snacks are exported in 500g retail-ready packages and bulk 10 kg bags. Baobab fruit powder is produced seasonally and exported to EU nutritional supplement manufacturers. All products carry DGASP phytosanitary certification and are eligible for EU GSP tariff preferences.
WAKT bridges Guinea-Bissau's raw cashew supply with international kernel buyers by operating the country's most modern cashew processing line, capable of producing 800 tonnes of finished kernels annually. The facility uses steam sterilisation, centrifugal shelling, and automated colour sorting to produce white whole kernels (W180, W240, W320, W450) and splits for the European confectionery and snack market.
Quality certificates include moisture content, free fatty acid analysis, and salmonella/e. coli microbiological reports from a Dakar-based ISO 17025-accredited laboratory. WAKT offers CIF Rotterdam and CIF Hamburg pricing for European buyers, eliminating the need for buyers to manage FOB logistics from Bissau. The company also exports crude cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) — a by-product used in brake linings and industrial resins.
PANA operates as a cross-border agricultural aggregator with offices in Bissau, Conakry, and Dakar, enabling buyers to source Guinea-Bissau cashew alongside supply from Guinea and Senegal within a single commercial relationship. The company consolidates orders below 1,000 tonnes — the minimum typically required by large Indian processors — into commercially viable shipments for mid-size European, Turkish, and UAE importers.
PANA's ITC partnership provides access to trade finance instruments including letters of credit, factoring, and export credit insurance through regional development banks. The company maintains a price transparency dashboard shared with registered buyers, showing daily farmgate prices and port throughput data. This level of market intelligence is rare in West African cashew trade and is particularly valued by specialty food importers and ESG-focused procurement teams.
Guinea-Bissau's cashew sector has attracted fraudulent actors in past seasons, particularly during peak demand. Follow these five verification steps before releasing any payment.
Cashew nuts are overwhelmingly Guinea-Bissau's primary export, accounting for more than 90% of all export earnings. The country is among the world's top eight cashew producers, with the 2025 harvest projected at 260,000 metric tonnes. Most raw cashew is exported to India, Vietnam, and Singapore for processing into finished kernels.
The National Cashew Agency (ANCA-GB) regulates the sector, sets annual farmgate prices, and issues export campaign licences. The Ministry of Trade and Industry formally opens the marketing and export campaign each year, typically in late March or April. Exporters must hold valid ANCA-GB licences to ship legally.
Request the supplier's ANCA-GB export licence number and cross-reference with the Ministry of Trade's published exporters list. Also require a DGASP phytosanitary certificate, a pre-shipment quality inspection from SGS, Bureau Veritas, or Intertek, and a confirmed port delivery order from APGB. Video walkthroughs of warehouse facilities are standard best practice for new supplier relationships.
Cashew trees bloom in January and February. The main harvest runs April to June. The government export campaign opens in late March or April each year. Buyers should finalise purchase agreements by February to secure priority allocation before Indian and Vietnamese buyers absorb the bulk of available supply.
Guinea-Bissau cashews are graded by kernel outturn ratio (KOR) — the standard for premium grade is ≥48 lbs per 80 kg bag. Additional quality parameters include moisture content (≤10%), black nut percentage (≤2%), and foreign matter (≤0.5%). Request a Certificate of Quality from ANCA-GB and an accredited lab inspection report for full assurance.
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