Gum Arabic

Published on 12 Oct 2025

• Gum arabic, a vital ingredient used in everything from Coca-Cola to M&M’s sweets, is increasingly being trafficked from rebel-held areas of war-torn Sudan, which accounts for around 80% of the world’s gum arabic supply.

• Gum arabic acts as an organic emulsifier in consumer goods around the world.

• The primary source of gum arabic is the hardened sap exuded from the trunks and branches of various species of the Acacia tree, particularly Senegalia senegal (formerly Acacia senegal) and Vachellia seyal.

• It grows across Africa, from Senegal to Kenya, but the millions of acacia trees that grow in a sandy 2,00,000 square mile belt across southern Sudan is the heart of production.

• However, since the civil war erupted in April 2023, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have taken control of major gum-harvesting regions in Kordofan and Darfur from the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

  
  

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Keywords:

Gum Arabic Coca-Cola emulsifier Acacia tree Africa Rapid Support Forces RSF Sudan Flora