Guar Seed - Commodities Info

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General Characterstics

• Guar, or clusterbean, (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub), is the source of a natural hydrocolloid, which is cold water soluble forming thick solutions at low concentrations.
• The guar seed consists of three parts: the germ, the endosperm, and the husk. It is from the endosperm that guar gum is derived. 100 Kilos of beans, minus their bean pods yields roughly 29 kilos of endosperm; 29 kilos of Guar powder.
• Industrially it is used in mining, petroleum drilling and textile manufacturing.
• In food it is used as a thickener and as a mean of preventing ice crystal formation in frozen desserts.

Supply Scenario

• India is the major producer of Guar Seed followed by Pakistan and US. India's guarseed production fluctuates between years and has been around 2-6 lakh tons in the recent years. India's guar production in 2003, is estimated at around 6 lakh tons.
• India accounts for 80% of the total guar produced in the world. 70% of India's production comes from Rajasthan. The other producers are Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
• Taking the US, Australian, African crop the total world supply of Guar Split is around 4-5 lakh tons in a normal year. It may even increase to 8 lakh tons as has been visible in 2003-04.
• Guar is a crop of semi arid - sub tropical areas spread over the north and north west of India and east and south east of Pakistan. It is grown in arid zones of Rajasthan, some parts of Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh. The main guar-growing region in India is Rajasthan.
• Guar is a rain fed monsoon crop, which requires 8-15 inch of rain in 3-4 spells and is harvested in October - November. It is sown immediately after first showers say in July and harvested around November each year. The crop yield is directly related to the monsoon. It requires a relative long growing season of 20-25 weeks.

Demand Scenario

• World market for guar gum is estimated to be around 150,000 tons/year, 70% of which is produced by India and Pakistan.
• US consumption is estimated to be around 40,000 tons/year.
• The export from India is around 115,000 tons and the domestic market is of around 25,000 tons.
• India exported 33000 tons of guar gum refined split and 84000 tons of guar gum treated and pulverized in 2002-03, which together accounts for an export of 117000 tons of guargum exports valued above Rs. 300 crores.
• The main demand of guar seed originates from the US petroleum industry and also the oil fields of Middle East.

Market Influencing Factors

• The production is directly related to monsoon. In Rajasthan, the rainfall fluctuates between years and thus results in high volatility in production and consequently on prices.
• While the demand is almost constant over the years, supply varies largely between years.
• The physical market of the commodity involves speculators and stockists. The commodity is subjected to a long storage period based on demand and market prices.
• There are no Government rules and regulations governing the production, distribution, marketing, exports or imports of the commodity and the market forces determine the prices.

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