General Characteristics
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- 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.
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Supply Scenario
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- 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.
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Demand scenario
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- 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.
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Market Influencing factors
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- 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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