Industrial units will now be free to export raw cashew nuts, while the overvaluation rate will be readjusted to a fixed 22%, compared to 18 under the old law. These are some of the innovations in the cashew bill approved yesterday in general by Parliament.

Previously, the export of raw chestnuts was reserved for traders duly licensed to do so and they could only do so once the domestic processing industries had been properly supplied.

Speaking at the presentation of the document, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Celso Correia, argued that the new legal framework is intended to make the export of cashew kernels with shells subject to a 15% tax. (News online)