Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau is a small market with one commanding crop, and EMM approaches it on that basis. Cargo arrives at Bissau, where berth depth and handling capacity limit vessel size, so most shipments transship through Dakar or Abidjan. Volumes are low, direct sailings are not realistic, and we are open with buyers that part-container freight here is costly. Planning ahead and consolidating are the practical responses.

Cashew, and the case for processing it

Cashew is the overwhelming export - the great majority of the country's foreign earnings - and almost all of it has historically left as raw nut for processing elsewhere. The interesting work for us is in the gradual shift towards shelling locally, because raw nut export captures a fraction of the value. We quote steaming and conditioning units, mechanical and semi-automatic shellers, drying, peeling, grading, roasting and vacuum packing lines, sized realistically for cooperative and small-enterprise volumes rather than for an industrial-scale plant that would sit idle. Rice milling is the main food demand, with groundnut, palm oil and fruit processing alongside. Fisheries in productive Atlantic waters buy ice makers, cold rooms, freezers and handling equipment. Power and water equipment - generator sets, solar arrays with storage, borehole and surface pumps, treatment - support everything else, since grid coverage is thin.

How we specify it

Assume no reliable mains, no manufacturer service presence and a humid tropical climate with heavy seasonal rain. Mechanical simplicity, tolerance of voltage variation, sealed enclosures and a full spares kit matter more than efficiency figures. The country uses the CFA franc, which simplifies regional trade, and Portuguese is the official language, so we supply Portuguese documentation where it is needed. Mains, where it reaches, is 220 V single phase and 380 V three phase, 50 Hz.

Tell us your realistic daily tonnage and we will size a line that pays for itself rather than one that looks impressive.