After two years of extensive cooperation with ISCC and certification body SGS Germany, IOI Loders Croklaan is the first vegetable oils & fats company to obtain ISCC certification for its shea supply chain.

“A new milestone in our journey towards a sustainable and transparent supply chain. This third party certification is the ultimate result of all the effort we have put into sustainable shea practices in recent years. We are supporting the construction of warehouses in Ghana to improve the earnings of women collecting shea from wild growing trees. We are also one of the pioneers of the Global Shea Alliance and actively participate in their sustainability programme. Prior assessments performed by Rainforest Alliance found no major sustainability hot spots in our West African shea supply chain”, said Joost van Ginneken, Supply Chain Manager Africa at IOI Loders Croklaan.

Shea trees grow only in Africa, in a belt stretching from Sudan to Senegal. Shea trees are not cultivated but only grow wild. Only the shea that is not locally used is sold. The shea fruits fall from the tree when ripe and are collected and dried by local women in small savannah villages. Millions of people in West Africa, especially in rural areas, depend on shea for their livelihood. Shea is most commonly used in cosmetics and food manufacturing and, to a lesser extent, a fraction derivative is partly used in bioenergy. IOI Loders Croklaan has been producing shea and its applications for over 50 years.

Juliane Pohl, ISCC System Manager: “For this first certification of a shea supply chain, all existing requirements of the ISCC System have been implemented. Together with SGS and IOI Loders Croklaan, the specific factors were discussed and taken into account. For example, there is no land use change for shea. The traceability through the supply chain is ensured and social aspects have been discussed with NGOs. We are happy that IOI Loders Croklaan has chosen ISCC to prove the sustainability of its shea supply chain.”

“During the audits in West Africa, I was able to verify that the shea nuts from the supplier network of IOI Loders Croklaan are collected from wild growing shea trees. Collecting shea nuts has been deeply anchored in the traditional lifestyle of female villagers for centuries. Selling the nuts which are not consumed domestically to companies like IOI Loders Croklaan is a welcome opportunity for them to earn some extra money,” according to Sven Theml, Business Development Manager Sustainability at SGS Germany.