Nigeria Hits Pause on Shea Nut Exports

Nigeria has temporarily halted exports of raw shea nuts—the source of shea butter found in many beauty creams—for six months in a bid to expand the country's minute share of the $6.5 billion global market. Though the West African nation grows about 40% of the world's shea crop, it rakes in just 1% of the aforementioned figure. Vice President Kashim Shettima called that status quo "unacceptable" and on Tuesday said the ban would take immediate effect, reports the Cable.

Right now, much of Nigeria's 350,000-ton annual haul is whisked away through informal channels, with small farmers often unaware of the international value of their crop and underpaid by opportunistic middlemen. The government's plan is straightforward: keep the nuts at home so they can be processed—crushed, roasted, and boiled in order to extract the oil—and refined into high-value products locally, instead of shipping them out raw. The pause is designed to give Nigeria a shot at growing its annual earnings from shea fruit from $65 million to $300 million, reports the BBC. It's also framed as a move to boost industrialization, empower women (who make up a large share of the harvesters), and create jobs.