Shea Butter for Contract Manufacturers
Two grades, one specification discipline: a COA per batch, an agreed spec, and notice before anything changes.
Summary
EMI Agro supplies contract manufacturers with refined N-RBD shea butter for white, odourless bases and unrefined Grade A for natural ranges, produced in its own Ibadan facility on a NIS 571:2013 basis. Every batch ships with a Certificate of Analysis. Written specifications, change notification and audit access are discussed on enquiry so a manufacturer can qualify EMI under its own system. Volume can be planned as scheduled shipments once a specification is agreed. See all buyer types we supply and the complete guide to shea butter.
- Recommended grades
- Refined N-RBD · Unrefined Grade A
- Minimum / entry order
- Standard orders start at 20 tonnes. Trial lots start at 5 tonnes. Smaller volumes can still be requested — we review every enquiry against current production.
- Lead time
- Lead time is Ibadan production time plus ocean time to the named port. EMI Agro produces 40 tonnes per week of finished shea butter and can schedule rolling shipments. Exact weeks depend on the quantity on the purchase order.
- Certifications relevant to you
- NAFDAC registered, SON approved, HACCP in progress
- Start with
- Request a COA
What matters to contract manufacturers
Batch-to-batch consistency: the brand's spec is fixed; the manufacturer carries the risk if the raw material drifts — colour, odour, melting behaviour, free fatty acid. A contract manufacturer does not buy shea butter; it buys the promise that batch 12 will behave like batch 1 — and the paperwork to prove it.
A COA per batch reporting the same parameters by the same methods every time, so incoming QC can trend results. See a COA in the format you will receive and how to read a shea butter COA. The COA interpreter is a check against published bands, not a certificate.
A written specification agreement: limits, test methods, sampling plan, and what happens on an out-of-spec result. Limits belong inside the published ranges on the specification hub, not tighter than the process can hold.
Change control: notice before a change in process, raw-material region, packaging or shelf-life claim, with time to re-qualify. The triggers and the notice period are written into the agreement, not left as a courtesy email.
Volume and scheduling: committed volume with call-off shipments so a filling line is never waiting on a container. How EMI schedules that against current capacity — 40 tonnes per week of finished shea butter — is confirmed on the quote.
Audit access and a completed supplier questionnaire for the manufacturer's own customers' audits. Facility visits at Moniya are by appointment. The qualifying playbook is the buyer checklist.
Recommended product and specifications
Most contract manufacturers specify refined N-RBD for fragrance-led and colour-critical bases, and unrefined Grade A when the brand prints "unrefined" or "raw". How to choose: brand claims that require unrefined butter → Grade A; white, odourless base and fragrance stability → N-RBD. What N-RBD refining changes and what it does not belongs in the specification conversation, not as a guess on the line. Batch values for each grade sit on the COA.
Refined N-RBD Shea Butter
White, deodorised N-RBD for fragrance-led and colour-critical bases.
Unrefined Grade A Shea Butter
Natural colour and scent for brands that claim real shea.
Specification tables for your use case
Unrefined Grade A for Cosmetics
Unrefined Grade A shea butter for cosmetics: INCI, 2–20 % inclusion, 4–11 % unsaponifiables and the FFA, PV and colour specs to request.
Unrefined Grade A for Body Butter & Lotion
Unrefined Grade A shea butter for body butter and lotion: whipping behaviour, graininess control, emulsion loading and the specs to request.
Refined N-RBD for Cosmetics
Refined N-RBD shea butter for cosmetics: white, odourless, low-FFA butter for colour-critical, fragrance-sensitive skincare.
Refined N-RBD for Body Butter & Lotion
Refined N-RBD shea butter for body butter and lotion: texture and slip after refining, whipping structure, and the melting-point spec to request.
Parameters to write into your specification agreement:
The full parameter set and methods sit on shea butter specifications and shea butter test methods.
MOQ, format, lead time and certifications
- Certifications
- NAFDAC registered, SON approved, HACCP in progress
- Capacity
- 40 tonnes per week of finished shea butter
- Quality basis
- NIS 571:2013 · AOCS / ISO
Minimum order, formats, lead time, Incoterms, payment, shelf life and storage are confirmed on the quote. Conversations with contract manufacturers often cover drums and IBCs for manufacturing lines and smaller packs for pilot batches — those formats become terms when they appear on your offer.
Specification agreement
A standard discussion with a contract manufacturer covers parameters and limits per grade; test-method names (AOCS and ISO references from the specification pages); sampling and COA content; retained samples; the out-of-spec procedure; and a review cadence. EMI does not publish a blank template. Send the limits you must hold and we reply with a current COA against that brief.
Change control and audits
What triggers a change notification — process, raw-material region, packaging, shelf-life claim — and how much notice you receive is agreed in writing. Supplier questionnaires, document audits and on-site access at the Ibadan facility are available by appointment. Use qualifying a shea butter supplier as the buyer checklist. Incoming QC steps live in quality control for buyers.
Certification status is NAFDAC registered, SON approved, HACCP in progress. EMI does not claim GMP or an ISO 22000 certificate. See quality. EMI's position is simple: agree the specification in writing, test every batch against it, and tell you before anything upstream changes — once that commitment is on the agreement.
Why EMI Agro for contract manufacturers
One manufacturer with pressing and refining under one roof means one party accountable for the spec. Intake, production and the laboratory sit at Moniya, Ibadan — not a chain of traders restamping a COA.
Capacity is 40 tonnes per week of finished shea butter. That is the current finished figure, used for scheduled-supply conversations. Quality and company facts are on quality and about.
Send the specification. We send a COA against it. That is the first meeting, not a brochure.
Not quite you? If you resell shea butter to many customers rather than manufacture with it, see Shea butter for distributors and wholesalers. This page is written for contract manufacturers.
Related pages
Distributors & Wholesalers
Reselling ingredient rather than manufacturing with it.
Private-Label Buyers
Own-brand bulk butter without formulating.
Qualifying a supplier
The buyer process for vetting any shea supplier.
How to read a COA
Every COA line explained.
Refined N-RBD shea butter
White, deodorised butter for manufacturing lines.
Unrefined Grade A shea butter
Natural ranges that claim unrefined shea.
Quality
Certification status and laboratory notes.
Frequently asked questions
Last reviewed September 2026 by EMI Agro Industries QC team.
Manufacturer-direct from Ibadan, Nigeria
Send us your specification. We will send back a COA against it.
Tell us the grade, the limits you need to hold and your annual volume; we will reply with a current Certificate of Analysis and our specification-agreement template.
You have just read Shea Butter for Contract Manufacturers. The next step is a real lot from the factory that produces it — EMI Agro, with factory-direct pricing and a batch Certificate of Analysis.
Trusted manufacturer
EMI Agro Industries Limited (RC 9364495) presses the butter in Ibadan — we are not a trading company.
Competitive factory-direct prices
Quoted EXW, FOB or CIF — the buyer chooses. You pay the factory, not a chain of middlemen.
Export-ready supply
We ship to European Union, United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Southeast Asia, China, India, Middle East, Latin America. Load ports: Apapa (Lagos) or Tin Can Island (Lagos).
Documented lots
40 tonnes per week of finished shea butter, a Certificate of Analysis on every batch, NAFDAC registered and SON approved.