Côte d’Ivoire to host inaugural Salon National du Karité in October 2026

CÔTE D’IVOIRE – Kouadio‑Koné Minafoun Pinguey, president of the Fédération nationale du karité de Côte d’Ivoire (FENKACI), has announced the first edition of the Salon national du karité (SNKA).

The event is set for 13–14 October 2026 at the Sofitel Hôtel Ivoire convention centre in Abidjan, under the theme “What ecosystem for the sustainable development of the shea sector in Côte d’Ivoire?”.

The initiative is backed institutionally by the Conseil Coton‑Anacarde‑Karité (CCAK) and fits into a broader strategy to move up the value chain in speciality agricultural sectors as the regulator tightens market rules and pushes for more local processing of shea kernels. FENKACI frames SNKA around a threefold economic, social and environmental ambition: accelerating industrialisation, strengthening the financial empowerment of rural women collectors and enabling direct integration of Ivorian shea products into international distribution channels.

Presented in Abidjan through a press conference co‑chaired by Pinguey, in her role as the salon’s commissioner‑general, and Issa Konaté, deputy director‑general of CCAK representing director‑general Mamadou Berté, SNKA is framed as a business and technical platform rather than a conventional trade fair. 

Its programme includes workshops focused on organising sector actors, harmonising quality standards and improving access to domestic and international markets for shea products.

FENKACI outlines a three‑pronged economic, social and environmental vision for shea, centred on accelerating industrialisation, strengthening the financial position of rural women and enabling direct integration of Ivorian shea butter and derivatives into global distribution channels. 

Held under the patronage of First Lady Dominique Ouattara, the salon is also intended as a political signal of the state’s ambition to make shea a pillar of inclusive industrial development.

Official messaging around SNKA places particular emphasis on the “secondary processing challenge”, with the goal of shifting value creation toward refined, cosmetic‑ and pharmaceutical‑grade applications instead of relying primarily on exports of raw kernels or crude butter. 

For CCAK, this focus extends recent reforms in the cotton and cashew sectors that have sought to reduce dependence on unprocessed commodity exports.

Alongside the salon announcement, the government has kept the 2026–2027 farm‑gate price for shea kernels at 250 FCFA/kg, with floor prices of 275 FCFA/kg at inland warehouses and 305 FCFA/kg at factory gate. 

Coupled with a ban on exporting nuts and kernels via land borders and priority access to raw material for local processors, this pricing framework is designed to better supply an estimated industrial capacity of around 130,000 tonnes of kernels per year across roughly twenty identified plants.

According to the Fonds interprofessionnel pour la recherche et le conseil agricoles (FIRCA), Côte d’Ivoire is among the world’s leading shea producers, with the sector supporting livelihoods for more than 152,000 producers, the vast majority of whom are women. 

Production is spread across nine regions in the north and centre of the country, from Gontougo to Folon, giving shea considerable social importance in rural economies.

Recent marketing seasons, however, indicate that local processing remains below potential: in 2025–2026, the regulator recorded 51,697 tonnes of kernels delivered to Ivorian plants, yielding about 14,078 tonnes of butter exported to thirteen countries through a network of 21 identified processing units. 

The gap between installed capacity, actual volumes processed and international demand underpins the authorities’ decision to create a dedicated salon to attract investors, processors and technical partners.

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