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In fact West African countries have a centuries old method of making soap from locally available material. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_black_soap http
by budu3 4y ago
In fact West African countries have a centuries old method of making soap from locally available material. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_black_soap https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_black_soap
- Scoundreller 4y agoWhile the base (ash in this case) can be locally produced, africa as a continent isn't a big edible oil producer/exporter, and that's usually the expensive part in soapmaking. And one could argue that plant ash isn't the most sustainable source of base in making soap.
- samatman 4y agoWest Africa is the home of the oil palm, and doesn't need to go full Borneo to produce adequate amounts of fat for saponification.
- Scoundreller 4y agoMaybe the home, but that doesn't mean productive. They're not producing enough to export, and seem to even be net importing it: https://oec.world/en/profile/hs92/palm-oil https://oec.world/en/profile/hs92/palm-oil But maybe not being well represented here indicates a healthy domestic market. (and this data can be suspect: Netherlands aren't growing any, but might do some processing of some kind or re-export) https://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?commodity=palm-oil https://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?commodity=palm-oil shows 84% of production being from Indonesia and Malaysia.
- sangnoir 4y agoWhy would you consider exports a useful metric here? Soap can be manufactured with oil for domestic consumption.
- wiether 4y agoShea oil.