Outturn is the whole trade: what cashew buyers should specify this season

Kernel outturn ratio decides whether a cashew contract makes money. It is also the term most often left vague in the contracts we are asked to review, usually in favour of a nominal grade that means nothing at the point of dispute.

Specify the number, not the grade

"Good merchantable quality" is not a specification. Outturn expressed in pounds per 80kg bag is. Write the figure, write the sampling method, and write what happens if the lot lands outside it — a price adjustment formula is worth more than a right of rejection nobody will exercise once the container is on the water.

The three numbers worth arguing about

• Outturn — the kernel yield. Everything else is secondary.
• Moisture — above 10% you are buying water and inviting mould in transit.
• Defective rate — agree how it is counted before anyone counts it.

Sampling at the aggregation point rather than at the port is the single change that most improves a buyer's position, because it puts the measurement before the blending rather than after it.

This season

Conditions across the Kogi and Kwara belts have been reasonable and volumes are available. Buyers who specify properly are getting what they contracted for. Buyers who bought a grade are, as usual, discovering what the grade meant on arrival.