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Shea butter |
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 Shea butter, an ingredient increasingly found in
American and European lotions and soaps, comes from nuts found only in
Africa. The “shea belt” runs through much of West Africa, particularly Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea and Mali.
Traditional
shea butter processing is done by village women, who gather, boil and
sun-dry the nuts. Afterward, they pound and ground the dried nuts to a paste,
which they knead with water to extract the fat, and stir into
creamy butter. Used as cooking fat, skin treatment and ceremonial
ointment in Africa, and as an additive to chocolate in Europe, shea
butter is increasingly sought by the international cosmetic
market.
 For centuries, Africans have used shea butter to:
- Moisturize and regenerate skin and hair
- Reduce inflammation, stretch marks and wrinkles
- Treat eczema and arthritis
To
help West Africans export this unique natural resource – and to help
everyone understand its potential -- WATH has published the  Shea Butter Export Guide 1.37 Mb (downloadable in both English and French) and the most comprehensive analysis yet of the Shea Butter Value Chain, a four-volume analysis of shea from the tree to the supermarket shelf, available on our Resources page.
The shea industry is booming and adapting, so the Hub updated the value chain in 2008, diagramming in one page how shea nuts are processed into one of the hottest cosmetic ingredients in the world. See it here: 2008 Shea Value Chain 364.75 Kb.
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African Cashew Alliance |
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The West Africa Trade Hub houses the African Cashew Alliance: 
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Global Shea |
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The West Africa Trade Hub organized Global Shea 2009:
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Product Categories 
West
African exhibitors who have worked with WATH include dealers in bulk
processed shea butter and finished cosmetic products. Download the
updated 