Gum Arabic Smuggling Surges from War-Torn Sudan, Impacting Coca-Cola & M&M’s Supply Chains

Gum arabic, a key ingredient in everything from Coca-Cola to M&M’s, is becoming more and more trafficked from areas held by rebels in conflict-torn Sudan, traders and industry sources indicate. The expanding illicit trade is making it harder for Western companies to ensure conflict-free supply chains.

Sudan provides 80% of the globe’s gum arabic, a plant resin from acacia trees used to stabilize and thicken the ingredients of numerous consumer items, such as L’Oréal lipstick and Nestlé pet food. Yet, since the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took control of Sudan’s primary gum-gathering areas in Kordofan and Darfur, the industry has moved into illegal markets.

Trafficking and Informal Markets

Sudanese merchants can only sell gum arabic upon remitting fees to the RSF, and most of the commodity is now passing via informal border bazaars to surrounding nations. Reuters informed that two merchants testified that gum arabic is being smuggled into Chad, Senegal, Egypt, and South Sudan without certification.

A representative of the RSF has denied any corruption, stating that the group safeguards the trade and charges small fees only. Nevertheless, in January, the RSF signed a charter to form a shadow government, further consolidating its control on the trade in the controlled areas.

Gum Prices Fall As Smuggled Supplies Raise Concerns

International buyers indicate an oversupply of cheap gum arabic from traditionally low-producing nations like Chad and Senegal. Sellers in these countries are providing hashab gum—a high-quality type mainly cultivated in Sudan—for $3,500 a tonne, well below the typical $5,000 a tonne.

Mohammed Hussein Sorge, director of Khartoum-headquartered Unity Arabic Gum, refused to purchase gum because of inadequate ethical sourcing certification. “Smugglers can smuggle gum arabic in the RSF because the RSF dominates the entire production locations,” Sorge explained.

Companies Worldwide on Guard

Market leaders Nexira, Alland & Robert, and Ingredion transform raw gum arabic into emulsifiers for big brands Nestlé and Coca-Cola. Although others have diversified their sources to Cameroon as well as other nations, industry players caution that illegal gum arabic has the potential to enter supply chains across the globe.

“Today, Sudanese gum, I can say all of it is smuggled because no one exercises real authority in the country,” said Herve Canevet, an international marketing expert at Eco-Agri.

New Trade Corridors

Previously, gum arabic was routed through Port Sudan and shipped out through the Suez Canal. Today, smugglers are diverting supplies to South Sudan, Chad, the Central African Republic, and even Kenya’s Mombasa port.

In West Kordofan, traders currently purchase gum from landowners directly and resell to South Sudanese merchants under RSF guard for fees. Some of the gum is channeled through Um Dafoog, a border town shared with the Central African Republic.

South Sudan Information Minister Michael Makuei separated his government from the business by saying monitoring gum transport was not their mandate.

Illicit Gum Reaches Online Markets

Plundered gum arabic has also appeared on the internet. Isam Siddig, a Sudanese gum processor who escaped to the UK, found his firm’s branded gum products being sold on Facebook—a year following his warehouses having been raided by RSF troops.

As the Sudanese civil war destabilizes gum arabic supplies around the world, the industry is increasing pressure to guarantee ethical and conflict-free sourcing prior to illicit gum entering the global gum market.