We get this question often: "Are you EU organic certified?"
The short answer is no. The longer answer is strategic.
There's a common assumption in superfoods sourcing: if a supplier isn't certified, the product must be inferior. This conflates two different things.
Certification is a market access mechanism. It is not a proxy for quality.
Let's take Baobab for example, growing in rural Senegal and Nigeria or the forests of DRC is organic by default—no synthetic inputs, no industrial agriculture, no contamination. Our lab results confirm this: zero pesticide residue, heavy metals below EU limits, mycotoxins absent. The product meets EU specifications.
What it lacks is a €10,000–€27,000 audit trail that allows it to be marketed as organic in Europe. That distinction matters.
What Certification Actually Requires
EU organic certification isn't a single fee. It's a supply chain commitment. From our own budgeting:
- Exporter certification: €4,000–€12,000 (first year)
- Farm/supplier group certification: €6,000–€15,000 per origin
- Timeline: 3–6 months minimum
- Requirement: Every party in the chain—farmers, processors, exporters—must hold valid certification
For an aggregator like us working across DRC, Senegal, Kenya, and Ghana, full certification across multiple origins could exceed €30,000 before a single kilogram ships.
That's not a compliance cost. That's speculative capital expenditure.
What We Observed in Buyer Conversations
We recently engaged with a European buyer sourcing organic baobab and moringa. The interaction was professional and instructive.
On baobab, the buyer's target price was €5.40–5.80/kg CFR Germany. Our index for organic (non-certified) baobab: €6.50–10/kg FOB. Certified organic trades at €10–14/kg FOB. The buyer's anchor was below even non-certified market pricing—before adding freight.
On moringa, the same buyer anchored at €5.50–6.50/kg CFR Hamburg. We connected them with a fully EU-certified supplier in Ghana pricing at $9/kg—squarely within the €8–11/kg certified corridor. The buyer declined.
That certified supplier offered us a 30% commission to facilitate the deal. We were comfortable with the buyer sourcing directly. The economics simply didn't align.
This isn't a criticism. It's a market observation: certification does not guarantee that buyers will pay certification-adjusted prices.
Capital Discipline Over Compliance Theater
Lubembo is building for the long term. Our priorities, in order:
- Vetted supply relationships across multiple origins
- Pricing transparency anchored to real market corridors
- Buyer pipeline depth across US, EU, and Middle East markets
- Producer economics that don't shift speculative risk onto farmers
Certification will follow confirmed demand—not precede it.
At our current stage, EU organic certification would be speculative capex, not leverage. We would be spending €20,000+ to access buyers who may still anchor below market. That's not capital discipline. That's hope masquerading as strategy.
Our Position
We are not anti-certification. We have proposed co-investment structures to serious buyers: buyer contributes 80–100% of certification costs upfront, recovers via per-kg rebates ($0.50–1.00/kg) over 24–36 months. Certification becomes a shared asset, not a unilateral bet.
No takers yet. And that's fine.
Meanwhile, we continue to serve markets with achievable entry barriers. United States: FDA facility registration. Middle East: Halal certification. East Europe (conventional): lab-tested, spec-compliant, non-organic positioning.
EU organic remains on the roadmap—when the economics justify it.
The Takeaway
Certification is a tool, not a credential. It opens doors, but it doesn't guarantee fair pricing behind them.
For African suppliers navigating global markets, the question isn't "Are you certified?" The question is: "Does certification create leverage, or just cost?"
At Lubembo, we're building leverage first.
Certification matters—but leverage matters more.
Lubembo is an African-origin aggregator of superfoods and honey, operating across DRC, Senegal, Kenya, and West Africa. We work directly with producer groups and serve buyers who value traceability, compliance, and long-term supply security. Trade with us: lubembo.co
Currently sourcing: honey, baobab, moringa, hibiscus. Trade with us: lubembo.co | Subscribe to our market intelligence.
