Turmoil in Sudan: implications for the global gum acacia supply chain

Sudan produces approximately 80% of the world's supply of gum acacia, harvested from Acacia senegal and Acacia seyal trees in the Sahel region. For food, beverage, pharmaceutical, and confectionery manufacturers who rely on this ingredient, political and military instability in Sudan is a supply chain risk with direct implications for availability and pricing.

What happened

Sudan's political crisis escalated in 2022 with widespread protests against the military government and a violent crackdown. The situation reached a critical point on April 15, 2023, when fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum, Omdurman, and Port Sudan, disrupting normal economic activity across the country, including the harvesting, processing, and export of gum acacia.

Impact on supply and pricing

The disruption has affected gum acacia supply through several mechanisms. Harvesting in rural Sahel communities is labor-intensive and requires stable security conditions; violence and displacement directly reduce the harvest. Transportation infrastructure used to move gum from interior areas to Port Sudan for export has been disrupted. The ability of international trading houses to operate safely in the country has been constrained.

The knock-on effects include tighter supply availability, longer lead times, and pricing pressure as competing buyers seek to secure forward inventory.

How PAT is managing this

PAT's gum acacia supply runs through Willy Benecke in Hamburg, where the raw gum is cleaned, dissolved, and spray-dried into finished powder at their SprayCom facility. Benecke buys directly at origin, holds processed inventory in Germany, and that inventory is a buffer against short-term harvest disruptions.

PAT maintains North American inventory of gum acacia to reduce the lead time exposure our customers face. We recommend customers with significant gum acacia requirements discuss forward inventory positions with us, particularly during periods of elevated supply uncertainty.

World supply of Acacia senegal gum comes from more than one producing country, and Willy Benecke's direct buying relationships span multiple origins. PAT's finished powder is spray-dried in Germany, with German country of origin, and does not depend on any single harvest region.