3F Industries Limited has been awarded First Prize for shea oil exports from India for the financial year 2025-26 by the Indian Oilseeds and Produce Export Promotion Council (IOPEPC).
IOPEPC is the export promotion council for oilseeds and vegetable oils, working under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India. Each year it recognises the member companies with the strongest export performance in each product category.
The award was presented on 8 October 2026 at an IOPEPC event in Thailand. Mr Navin Bhardwaj, Attaché (Commerce) at the Embassy of India in Bangkok, presented it together with representatives of the council. Mr M.S. Venugopal, General Manager (Finance), received it on behalf of the company.
It is not the first time our shea business has earned this recognition
A second first place in shea
IOPEPC’s published list of export award winners places 3F Industries Limited first for shea stearin exports in 2019-20. Shea stearin is the harder, higher melting part of shea fat, separated from the softer part by controlled cooling and filtration, a process called fractionation. With the 2025-26 award, the company has now placed first in the council’s shea category twice.
Shea oil itself is the fat taken from the kernel of the shea nut, which grows across West Africa. Its value to the food industry lies mainly in what it makes possible in chocolate.
Where shea fits in what we make
Shea is one of the fats used to make cocoa butter equivalents. A cocoa butter equivalent is a vegetable fat built to behave like cocoa butter, closely enough that a chocolate maker can blend the two in any proportion. We explain how these fats differ from the alternatives in our guide to lauric and non-lauric fats.
Our Mello SH111 is a cocoa butter equivalent made from fractionated shea butter and palm oil. Our plant in Tema, Ghana, set up in 2009, processes shea nuts alongside soya seeds, with a capacity of 200 tonnes a day.
For a buyer, an export award like this one matters for a practical reason.
What the award means for buyers
Specialty fats are bought on specification. The hardest thing to judge from outside a supplier is whether that specification will hold across shipments and through a full season. An export ranking is one external answer to that question, because it records sustained shipments to overseas buyers across an entire financial year.
3F Industries Limited was founded in 1960 and manufactures at four locations: Tadepalligudem, Krishnapatnam and Hyderabad in India, and Tema in Ghana.
We thank our employees, customers, suppliers and business partners, whose work through the year made this result possible.
Enquiries for shea-based fats
If you buy shea-based fats or cocoa butter equivalents, send us your application and the specification you work to. Our team will come back with the grade that fits and its specification sheet.
In the press
- The Hans India, 13 October 2026
- Print coverage on 13 October 2026: Sakshi, Andhra Jyothy and Eenadu (West Godavari editions), The Hans India (Vijayawada edition), Prajasakti, and Express News Service