SHEA NUTS

Predominantly grown in the semiard Sahel of West and Central Africa are the male varieties of shea nut, also known as “Shea Belt”, such as Vitellaria paradoxa and Vitellaria nilotica.  The Vitellaria paradoxa variety is a large export crop throughout the West African region. The Vitellaria nilotica, however, has been unsuccessfully replicated in Israel and Germany and is mainly grown in Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan.

Shea nuts products consist of solid fat (butter or stearin) and liquid oil (olien), which are great as raw materials for products including cooking oil, margarine, cosmetics, soap, detergents, and candles.  The primary market niche for shea nuts, however, is as an alternative to cocoa butter use in the chocolate and confectionery industry. SHEA NUTS

Predominantly grown in the semiard Sahel of West and Central Africa are the male varieties of shea nut, also known as “Shea Belt”, such as Vitellaria paradoxa and Vitellaria nilotica.  The Vitellaria paradoxa variety is a large export crop throughout the West African region. The Vitellaria nilotica, however, has been unsuccessfully replicated in Israel and Germany and is mainly grown in Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan.

Shea nuts products consist of solid fat (butter or stearin) and liquid oil (olien), which are great as raw materials for products including cooking oil, margarine, cosmetics, soap, detergents, and candles.  The pprimary market niche for shea nuts, however, is as an alternative to cocoa butter use in the chocolate and confectionery industry.

Production Method

Naturally and widely grown in West Africa, shea nut trees only begin to produce fruit after 20 years. The trees do not reach maturity until after 45 years and can continue to produce nuts even up to 200 years after maturity.

Even though, the lengthy maturation period has discouraged plantation planting, they are typically grown to provide shade for other crops in dry regions.

In the usual harvesting season of June through August, soft fruit containing shea nuts are de-pulped and parboiled to inhibit germination after harvesting . A few days later, the shea nuts are dried, then shelled and winnowed, often by hand before further drying of kernels to 7 percent of water concentration.

Demand and Supply
The more than 500,000 Mt. supply of the dominant variety, Vitellaria paradoxa, is produced in West Africa which greatly exceeds its local demand for cooking and beautifying purposes.

Import Markets
Shea nut import market is under European control, because chocolate manufacturers use shea nut byproducts as the main ingredients in the cocoa butter equivalent (CBEs). The ban on CBEs by multiple countries, including the US, restricts CBEs importers to European countries like Denmark, Sweden, and Holland with small shipments to Japan.

As such, shea butter is an increasingly popular ingredient in 5 percent of cosmetics and 95 percent of cchocolate and confectionery products, particularly in the European Union and South and North America.

Quality Standards
Shea nut quality standards differ based on the specifications of iindividual companies. The following requirements benchmark the composition of the shea nut for export:

Free Fatty Acids (FFA) = < – 6%
Moisture Content = < – 7%
Oil Content = ->45%
Latex = 4-10%

The most critical shea nut component is the oil content because this heavily impacts in the composition of butter that goes into CBEs and other byproducts.

Strategy

SSC has a wide collection network at various farm gates in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Mali. Our many years of experience in the local market, farm gates, quality control, warehousing, export formalities, packaging, and distribution has made us the number one choice for importers and shea butter processing plants in West Africa.