THE ECONOMICS OF A PRIMARY COMMODITY: GUM ARABIC
| Author | Adel A. Beshai |
| Date | 01 November 1984 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0084.1984.mp46004006.x |
| Published date | 01 November 1984 |
OXFORD BULLETIN OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS. 46,4(1984)
0305-9049 53.00
THE ECONOMICS OF A PRIMARY
COMMODITY: GUM ARABIC
AdelA. Beshai*
I. INTRODUCTION
Although about 100 million lbs. of gum arabic, with a value of over
$50 million, enter the stream of international commerce annually, very
little is written about it. For at least one country, the Sudan, it is of
major importance, accounting for some 10 per cent of its export
proceeds. Despite this lack of attention it is one of the oldest trading
commodities. The ancient Egyptians imported it from the Sudan and
used it in the preparation of colours for painting and in mummifying. 1
For France, this commodity was considered an important article of
commerce as early as 1349, when the Treasury of Philippe V imposed a
tax on it. Trieste was the 'great gum-sorting centre'2 until the end of
the nineteenth century. At present there exists the London gum market
and price quotations are published weekly in the Public Ledger. The
purpose of this paper is to give a brief account of the economics of gum
arabic.
II. DEFINITION
Gums are often lumped with resins. This is erroneous; each has separate
properties,3 different uses, and distinct markets. Within the genus 'gum'
itself, there are hundreds of species that yield gum. The present study is
concerned with gum arabic only, which has the biggest commercial
importance. In the main, there are two varieties of gum arabic: (a) the
hashab variety, which is a high-grade gum that exudes from the grey-
barked Acacia Senegal and (b) the taih variety which is an inferior
quality gum that is obtained from the 'red' or 'white' Acacia Seyal.
Gum arabic has a remarkably wide range of uses of which there are
four main categories.
(j) Foodstuffs
Gum arabic has an established use as food since early times in place of
the more usual carbohydrates. It is used in the preparation of sweet-
* Associate Professor and Chairman, Dept. of Economics, Political Science and Mass Com-
munications at the American University in Cairo. Tise author wishes to acknowledge the very
helpful comments and suggestions given by Mr R. W. Bacon and the Editors.
Flubert Jacob de Cordemoy (1900), p. 14.
2Imperial Institute (1909), pp. 135-36.
Technically, the true gums dissolve in water or form a gel, but are insoluble in organic
solvents. Resins are not affected by water, but are more or less soluble in various organic
solvents.
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