Every processing step that happens in Africa — drying, milling, extraction, blending, packaging — keeps more of the value of a raw material in African hands. ACE documents those steps so buyers can see them, and so the value is not lost at the border.
Request processing support →Africa exports raw materials and imports finished goods. That is not an accident — it is a structural gap in documentation, capacity and market access.
Coffee leaves Ethiopia as green beans and returns as roasted, branded, packaged coffee at ten times the price. Cocoa leaves Ghana as beans and returns as chocolate. Cotton leaves as lint and returns as fabric. The processing step — the step that captures the most value — is where Africa loses most of its economic advantage.
ACE does not build processing facilities. It provides the digital infrastructure that makes African processing visible, documented and verifiable — so that a buyer, an authority or a partner can see exactly what was done, where, and by whom. That is what turns "made in Africa" from a claim into a verifiable fact.
Every step from raw material to finished product is a point where value can be added, or lost. ACE documents each step so the trail is complete and the value is provable.
Raw material collected at source, with producer and location recorded.
Washing, drying, hulling, cleaning — the first transformation from raw to stable.
Milling, extraction, fermentation, refining — turning stable material into usable input.
Combining inputs into a finished product — a food, a cosmetic, a textile, a medicine.
Branded, packaged, ready for market — the final step where the product becomes sellable.
Every service below is available through a formal request. Some are live today. Some are in the pilot. Each card links to the service page where you can read more.
Register your processing facility on ACE with its location, capacity, authorisations and operating standards. A verifiable digital identity for the facility itself — distinct from the products it produces.
Record each processing step — inputs, outputs, equipment, operators, dates. The result is a documented transformation trail that a buyer or an inspector can follow from raw material to finished product.
For each processing run, ACE can record how much raw material went in and how much finished product came out — including by-products, waste and losses. Essential for honest yield claims and for cost transparency.
Link QC records — lab results, batch tests, compliance documents — to the batch that produced them. When a buyer checks a batch, they see the QC that backs it, alongside the certificate if one exists.
Where a certification scheme requires proof of process — regional origin, materials and processing rules, ABS compliance — ACE provides the workflow that connects the processor's records to the certifier's decision.
List processed and value-added products on the ACE Market with the full documented trail attached. Buyers can see not just the product, but how it was made and where the value was added.
Every processing step performed locally means jobs, skills and industrial capacity that stay in African economies instead of being exported with the raw material.
A kilogram of raw commodity sells for a fraction of the price of the same material processed and packaged. Capturing that margin requires the ability to prove what was done — which is what ACE provides.
Under the African Continental Free Trade Area, rules of origin reward products that are genuinely processed in Africa. Verifiable processing records are how a producer proves that reward applies to them.
ACE does not inspect facilities, does not approve processing methods, does not certify quality and does not grant any authorisation to process or sell a product.
Where a certificate, a permit or an inspection is required, that decision is made by the competent authority — a food safety authority, a standards body, a health regulator, a customs agency. ACE documents what happened in the processing step and links to the authority's decision. The authority decides. ACE carries the record forward.
Register your facility, request a documentation or traceability service, or list your processed products on the ACE Market. Tell us what you process and who your buyers are — we will contact you and prepare a written proposal.