Good South African suppliers for oils and butters?

[aihrat]

Hello! Any South African soapers who have a favourite supplier for oils and butters? It's driving me crazy that US soapers seem to be able to to make an unscented bar for what seems to be a healthy amount under $1 (cost of raw materials excluding labour), but my soaping in South Africa is costing me over R20 per unscented bar for the cost of materials (around $1.5 dollars). I don't soap with palm oil, which could increase the cost a lot as I replace it with shea and cocoa butter, but it still seems really expensive.

Would any South African soapers recommend cheaper places where they get their soaping supplies please? I typically prefer to buy in 5kg amounts. Also, has anyone managed to get rice bran oil here? I tried emailing Rice-Tic to no response, and am pretty desperate to try rice bran oil in my recipes.

I'll share my current price list, these are the cheapest sellers I could find for the various oils at hobbyist prices:



Coconut oil is actually cheaper than Dis-Chem at Riverlea Soap Studio, but I'm having trouble reaching their website right now so I can't confirm the price.

 

[cmzaha]

I am sorry I can't help you with your question, but I will assure I cannot make a bar of soap with my recipes for $1.00 per bar

 

[aihrat]

I am sorry I can't help you with your question, but I will assure I cannot make a bar of soap with my recipes for $1.00 per bar

Haha! Thank you for letting me know I was curious about how much raw materials should cost, so I read up on https://www.soapqueen.com/business/much-charge-products where it seems to suggest $0.82 per bar at a non-bulk price. Is that unrealistic, then?

 

[Kamahido]

My unscented bar is $0.62 per bar at cost. However, to be fair, I do not use any "luxury" oils such as Jojoba, Argan, Shea, Cocoa, etc.

 

[shunt2011]

Nor can I. And I use a large amount of lard. FO and EO add a large portion to the cost. I do use Shea but I also buy it 25 labs at a time.