Hass
Pebbly skin, almost black when ripe. The reference variety: 80% of the world’s avocados, and “the most compatible with high-quality oil extraction” (Alfa Laval). Oil in the flesh: 15% early in the season, 25% and more at full maturity.
The oil
A fruit oil, not a seed oil.
The avocado keeps its oil in the flesh — up to 30% of its weight — and almost none in the stone. Only the olive and the oil palm share that trait. We press it mechanically below 50 °C, without solvent, and ship every lot with its certificate of analysis.
≈ 75%monounsaturated fatty acids
11–19 mg/kgof chlorophyll: the green of a virgin oil
271 °Csmoke point of the refined oil
3,000–7,500 mg/kgof plant sterols
The grades
From the decanter to the bottle, four grades. We make one today and are preparing the other three.
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01
Crude
AchievedAs it leaves the decanter and separator: filtered, unrefined, for refiners and ingredient houses. The plant’s product today.
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02
Virgin and extra virgin
In progressThe same oil, selected on its analyses: free fatty acids < 0.5%, peroxide < 4 meq/kg, moisture < 0.1%. Emerald green, the taste of the fruit. Target: certified extra-virgin lots for bottling.
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03
Refined (RBD)
TargetDegummed, neutralised, bleached, deodorised: neutral, pale, smoke point 271 °C. The food grade of the big brands and manufacturers. Target: a refining line in Bujumbura.
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04
Cosmetic
TargetGrade for skin and hair care, with INCI documentation (Persea Gratissima Oil) and a safety data sheet. Cosmetics are nearly half of the world market. Target: COSMOS certification.
Authenticity
82% of avocado oils tested in 2020 were rancid or adulterated. Ours has a lot number.
The University of California, Davis analysed 22 avocado oils sold in the United States: 82% were oxidised before their best-before date or blended with soybean, sunflower or safflower oil; three “extra virgin” bottles were almost entirely soybean. The market has no US standard of identity. Since November 2024 it has a Codex standard — and we have a laboratory ten metres from the press. Every lot is traced back to the trucks weighed at reception; two retained samples are kept in the dark for the whole shelf life.
Identity card
- Designation
- Crude avocado oil (Persea americana)
- INCI name
- Persea Gratissima Oil
- Grade
- Crude, for refining or industrial use; virgin on selected lots
- Raw material
- Whole fruit; Hass, Fuerte and local varieties
- Origin
- Burundi — Ngagara plant, Bujumbura
- Control
- Laboratory analyses and certificate of analysis per lot
Varieties
Fuerte
Thin, smooth, green skin. Creamy flesh, lower oil content; a Mexican–Guatemalan hybrid older than the Hass.
Local varieties
Grown on Burundi’s hills for generations; the Burundian press cites the “Ruhere”. Generous flesh; available over a long part of the year.
Applications
Food refining
Crude oil for refining and then retail or the food industry. Smoke point of the refined oil: 271 °C.
Cosmetics
Raw material for skin and hair care; INCI documentation and safety data sheet on request. Nearly half of the world market.
Pharmaceutical and nutraceutical
A plant lipid rich in sterols and vitamin E, for formulations that require a traced origin.
Demand
A market of USD 640 to 675 million, growing 4 to 8% a year.
Depending on the analyst, the world avocado-oil market is worth USD 636 million (IMARC), 661 million (Mordor) or 675 million (Fortune Business Insights) in 2025 and grows 4 to 8% a year. North America accounts for 38 to 51%, Europe for 10%. Cosmetics take nearly half of revenue; extra virgin 46% of volume. In Kenya, Africa’s only sizeable oil exporter, processing tripled in a year: 3,326 tonnes in 2024, 10,188 in 2025.
Sources: IMARC, Mordor Intelligence, Fortune Business Insights (2025–2026); USDA FAS Kenya, April 2026.
USD 636–675Mthe world market in 2025, by analyst
4–8%expected annual growth
≈ 45%of revenue in cosmetics
×3Kenyan processing in one year (2024 → 2025)
What the science allows us to say
A spoon of avocado oil on a salad multiplied beta-carotene absorption 17-fold.
Crossover trial at Ohio State University (2005): 24 g of avocado oil on a salad multiplied the absorption of alpha-carotene 8.9-fold, beta-carotene 17.4-fold and lutein 6.7-fold. The claims we use are those European regulation 1924/2006 authorises for a compliant lot: “high monounsaturated fat”, “high unsaturated fat”, “source of vitamin E”. Nothing else — and every lot has to prove it.
Sources: Unlu et al., Journal of Nutrition 135 (2005); Regulations (EC) 1924/2006 and (EU) 432/2012.
17.4×beta-carotene absorption with 24 g of oil (n = 11)
6.7×lutein absorption
≥ 70%unsaturated fatty acids: the threshold of the European claim
The chemistry
What the chromatograph reads in a lot.
Fatty-acid profile of avocado oil under Codex Alimentarius (standard CXS 210, revision of 25 November 2024). The ranges are wide because the fruit varies with variety, season and maturity; the laboratory measures every lot by gas chromatography (ISO 12966).
- 45–478 mg/kgof tocopherols (vitamin E); 70–190 mg/kg of alpha-tocopherol in a cold-pressed Hass oil
- 3,000–7,500 mg/kgof sterols, 79 to 93% of them beta-sitosterol
- 1–3.5 mg/kgof carotenoids, mostly lutein
- 20 to 40%of the vitamin E lost at deodorisation at 200–260 °C — the case for virgin
Sources: Codex CXS 210-1999 (2024); Wong, Requejo-Jackman and Woolf, AOCS 2010; Lin and Li, Journal of Functional Foods 2024.
- Oleic (C18:1) — The fatty acid of olive and avocado: monounsaturated.
- Palmitic (C16:0) — Saturated; higher than in olive.
- Linoleic (C18:2) — Omega-6, polyunsaturated.
- Palmitoleic (C16:1) — The avocado fingerprint: almost absent from olive.
- Linolenic (C18:3) — Omega-3.
- Stearic (C18:0) — Saturated, traces.
Specifications
Parameters analysed and reference methods
Contractual values are agreed with the buyer. The reference methods are the ISO standards below and Codex Alimentarius (standard CXS 210-1999, avocado oil added in 2024).
| Parameter | Reference method | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Acidity (free fatty acids) | ISO 660 | Certificate of analysis per lot |
| Peroxide value | ISO 3960 | Certificate of analysis per lot |
| Moisture and volatile matter | ISO 662 | Certificate of analysis per lot |
| Insoluble impurities | ISO 663 | Certificate of analysis per lot |
| Iodine value | ISO 3961 | Certificate of analysis per lot |
| Saponification value | ISO 3657 | Certificate of analysis per lot |
| Fatty-acid profile | ISO 12966 | Certificate of analysis per lot |
| Iron and copper | ISO 21033 | Certificate of analysis per lot |
Packaging and logistics
From Flexitank to drum.
- Flexitank in a 20-foot container
- About 21 to 22 tonnes of oil — the oil of 120 to 220 tonnes of fruit. The most economical packaging for a full container: 44% more payload than drums.
- 1,000-litre IBC
- About 900 kg of oil. The standard format of refiners and ingredient houses.
- 200-litre drums
- About 180 kg of oil; 80 drums per 20-foot container. Small lots, industrial samples and consolidated shipments.
Shipment from Bujumbura via the Dar es Salaam corridor or by air. Incoterms to be agreed. Keep away from light, in full, closed containers: the chlorophyll that makes the oil green is also what makes it light-sensitive.
Documents
What we hand to the buyer
Documents are issued on request, in the name of Green Processing Company.
- Crude oil specification sheet
- Certificate of analysis per lot
- Certificate of origin
- Phytosanitary certificate
- Certificate of conformity from the Burundi Bureau of Standards (BBN)
- Safety data sheet