Guargum, also known as cluster bean is an extract of the guar bean, where it acts as a food and water store. The guar bean is mainly grown in India and Pakistan. Smaller crops are grown in the U.S., Australia, China, and Africa. It is a drought-resistant crop and can be eaten as a green bean, fed to cattle, or used in green manure.
Guar is a rain-fed crop and is sown in July-August and harvested in October-November. It is a leguminous crop, and therefore fixes nitrogen, making the soil fertile.
In order to obtain the guar gum the guar seeds are de-husked, milled and screened. It is produced as a pale, off-white colored, coarse to fine ground powder. Guar Gum is a carbohydrate polymer and has a high molecular weight. It is made up of a large number of mannose and galactose unit linked together.
The crude Guar Gum is basically a greyish white powder.Several methods can be used for the manufacture of different grades of guar gum. The thermo-mechanical process is generally used for the manufacture of edible grade and industrial grade guar gum, due to its complex nature.
India produces 90 per cent of the world’s total guar produce, of which 72 per cent comes from Rajasthan.
As per the Guar gum Export data available, about 90 per cent of guar gum processed in India is exported. US accounts for about more than 60 per cent of India’s exports. Norway, China, Germany and Russia are the other major export destinations. During the year 2018-19, India has exported 5,13,211.91 MT of guargum to the world for the worth of 676.48 USD Millions.
There are various grades of Guar gums available, pure or derivative. It is used in various industries due to its ability to suspend solids, control the viscosity of aqueous solutions, bind water by hydrogen bonding, form strong tough films etc.
Guargum is mainly used in food, paper and textile industries. Due to the expansion of the shale gas and oil industries, demand for the gum has increased.
According to latest Guargum export data, ninety per cent of the export is used to extract oil and shale gas. Guar Gum is a very versatile and efficient bio-polymer and covers a wide range of industrial applications like Oil drilling, Human food and Pet Food, Textile printing, Paper, Explosive, Water Treatment, etc. In all such applications, its binding, film forming, thickening and lubricating factors are of great interest.
Summary:
The article gives insight into trading parameters with respect to export of guar gum from India.
