Sudan ends gum arabic monopoly
June 5, 2009 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan, which is the world’s biggest producer, has ended the monopoly on production and export of the gum arabic, it was reported yesterday.
The Gum Arabic Company, Ltd., holder of the monopoly position for the export of crude Gum Arabic from the Sudan was founded by the Sudanese government in 1969.
Gum arabic is a resin that is used as an emulsifier in soft drinks, a thickener in candies and jellies, a binder in special-purpose inks and drugs, even a foam stabilizer in beer. Its name derives from the fact that the gum was shipped to Europe from Arabic ports.
Sudanese President Omer Al-Bashir issued a decree ending the monopoly rights held by the Gum Arabic Company on production, trade and export, SUNA said on Thursday.
The government hopes the end of the monopoly will allow growers to sell their harvest at higher prices.
The Sudanese gum is produced in Kordofan region 49.3%, Kassala region 24.4%, Darfur region 23.4 % and White and Blue Nile region 2.9%.
The gum works as an emulsifier enabling a stable mixture of water and sugar so that no sugary residues are left at the bottom of cola bottles.
The US, which buys about one-fourth of Sudan’s annual production of the commodity, has exempted it from its comprehensive economic sanctions that it imposed since 1997 for national security reasons.
(ST)
Ambago
Sudan ends gum arabic monopoly
Gum Arabic is one of the cash crops that have sustained the Sudanese economy for quite a long time, and now liberalising its market can for sure greatly benefit the local producers.
The point I want to make here is the relevancy of this cash crop to the farmers of south Sudan. It is a documented fact that the yield of the crop has very much declined in its traditional areas of production, be it in Kordofan or Darfur due to climatic changes.
And accordingly the production belt has moved much more south wards to areas in greater Upper Nile and Bahr al Ghazal and this is now an opportunity for south Sudan to get involved in the production of this magic crop.
I hope our agricultural researchers in south Sudan are following these things. It now high time for us to even dominated the cultivation of acacia and led the gum Arabic world market.