Nigeria is banning exports of raw shea nuts for the next six months, as the country looks to focus its efforts on refining the nuts into shea butter domestically.

According to BBC News, Nigeria produces nearly 40% of the world's supply of raw shea nuts, but accounts for just 1% of the $6.5 billion global market, given that the nuts are worth far more when they're refined into shea butter after they're exported. While exports of shea nuts are halted, Nigeria will look to build out the infrastructure needed to refine the product locally, which could increase annual earnings from the product from $65 million to $300 million, according to estimates from the country's Vice President Kashim Shettima.

''It is about industrialization, rural transformation, gender empowerment and expanding Nigeria's global trade footprint," Shettima said on August 26 in the country's capital of Abuja. 

Roughly 350,000 metric tons of shea nuts are produced in Nigeria each year, the majority of which are harvested by women. A quarter of that supply disappears over borders in unregulated trade, thanks in large part to businessmen who travel to remote regions where the nuts are harvested, and exploit farmers by purchasing the nuts for prices well below normal market value.