Shea Butter

Shea butter is pressed from the nut of the shea tree across the West African shea belt and used in confectionery as a cocoa butter equivalent and in cosmetics as an emollient base. Grade A raw butter retains its natural aroma and unsaponifiables; refined grades are deodorised and bleached for formulation neutrality. Supply is largely collected by women's cooperatives, and buyers increasingly require evidence of fair purchasing.

Why go through us rather than buying direct

Agricultural supply is spread across thousands of small exporters, and the quality of a cargo is decided at origin rather than when it lands. Buy direct with nobody checking and you find out about the missing phytosanitary certificate, or the aflatoxin reading, at the border. By then the money has gone and the cargo is sitting on demurrage. We verify the supplier, fix the specification in the contract, and inspect before anything ships.

We source this from the countries below. Origin is not a preference. It decides which phytosanitary and licensing rules apply, what specification is achievable, how the freight routes and what sanctions exposure you take on. We choose it against your compliance and delivery needs, not on price alone.

Put the parameters below in your brief with a tolerance against each, not a single target figure. A specification without tolerances gives the contract nothing to fall back on when a cargo lands marginally out.

• Free fatty acid content (FFA, % as oleic or palmitic)
• Moisture and impurities (M&I, %)
• Peroxide value (meq O₂/kg)
• Iodine value
• Colour (Lovibond 5¼″ cell)
• Slip melting point (°C)
• Saponification value
• Unsaponifiable matter (%)
• Free fatty acid (%)
• Moisture content (%)
• Melting point (°C)
• Colour and odour profile
• Grade (A, B, C, D, E)

We appoint an independent inspection agency at origin. They check quantity, quality against what was contracted, and the condition of the packaging, all before the shipment is released for loading. That certificate is what any later claim rests on.

Send us a brief covering the points below. Within one working day we will tell you whether we can fulfil it, how we would approach it, what paperwork it needs and roughly how long it takes.

• Which grade of Shea Butter you need, with tolerances
• Volume, and whether this is one shipment or a regular requirement
• Where it needs to land, which port, and by when
• Any certification you need: organic, Halal, Kosher, RSPO, FSC or other
• Preferred Incoterms and how you want to pay
• Packaging format and any labelling