*

Sudanese gum arabic, used in consumer goods, is being

trafficked

to other African countries

*

RSF controls Sudan's main gum-harvesting regions,

complicating

supply chains

*

Traders offer cheap gum without conflict-free

certification

*

RSF-affiliated gum appears in informal markets, smuggled

to

neighbours

By Richa Naidu, Khalid Abdelaziz

LONDON/DUBAI, March 4 (Reuters) - 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, traders and industry sources say,

complicating Western companies' efforts to insulate their supply

chains from the conflict.

Sudan produces around 80% of the world's gum arabic, a natural

substance harvested from acacia trees that's widely used to mix,

stabilise and thicken ingredients in mass-market products

including L'Oreal lipsticks and Nestle

petfood.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war since April

2023 with Sudan's national army, seized control late last year

of the main gum-harvesting regions of Kordofan and Darfur in

western Sudan.

Since then the raw product, which can only be marketed by

Sudanese traders in return for a fee to the RSF, is making its

way to Sudan's neighbours without proper certification,

according to conversations with eight producers and buyers who

are directly involved in gum arabic trading or based in Sudan.

The gum is also exported through informal border markets,

two traders told Reuters.

Asked for comment, a RSF representative said that the force

had protected the gum arabic trade and only collected small

fees, adding that talk of any lawbreaking was propaganda against

the paramilitary group.

Last month, the RSF signed a charter with allied groups

establishing a parallel government in the parts of Sudan it

controls.

In recent months, traders in countries with lower-gum arabic

production than Sudan, such as Chad and Senegal, or which barely

exported it before the war, like Egypt and South Sudan, have

begun to aggressively offer the commodity at cheap prices and

without proof it is conflict-free, two buyers who have been

approached by traders told Reuters.

While the acacia trees that yield gum arabic grow across the

Africa's arid Sahel region - known as the 'gum belt' - Sudan has

become by far the world's biggest exporter due to its extensive

groves.

Herve Canevet, Global Marketing Specialist at

Singapore-based supplier of speciality food ingredients

Eco-Agri, said it was often difficult to determine where gum

supplies are coming from as many traders would not say if their

product has been smuggled.

"Today, the gum in Sudan, I would say all of it is smuggled,

because there's no real authority in the country," he said.

The Association for International Promotion of Gums (AIPG),

an industry lobby, said in a January 27 public statement it

"does not see any evidence of links between gum (arabic) supply

chain and the competing (Sudanese) forces."

However, five industry sources said the opaque new trade in

gum risked infiltrating the procurement system of global

ingredients makers. Companies like Nexira, Alland & Robert, and

Ingredion ( INGR ) buy a refined version of the amber-colored gum, turn

it into emulsifiers and sell it to big consumer goods firms.

Contacted by Reuters, Ingredion ( INGR ) said it works to ensure that

all supply chain transactions are fully legitimate and has

diversified sourcing since the start of the war to include other

countries such as Cameroon.

Nexira told Reuters the civil war prompted it to cut its

imports from Sudan and take proactive measures to mitigate the

impact of the conflict on its supply chain, including broadening

sourcing to ten other countries.

Alland & Robert, Nestle and Coca Cola did not comment. M&Ms

maker Mars and L'Oreal did not return requests for comment.

CHEAP GUM FOR SALE

Mohammed Hussein Sorge, founder of Khartoum-based Unity

Arabic Gum, which served global ingredients makers before the

war, said he was offered gum arabic in December by traders in

Senegal and Chad.

He said the Chad-based traders wanted $3,500 per tonne for

hashab gum, a more expensive variety of gum arabic primarily

produced in Sudan, for which he would normally expect to pay

more than $5,000 per tonne.

The sellers could not provide a Sedex certification, which

ensures buyers a supplier meets sustainable and ethical

standards, Sorge also told Reuters.

Sorge did not buy the gum because he feared the low price

and lack of documentation was an indication it had been stolen

in Sudan or exported via informal RSF-affiliated networks.

"Smugglers manage to smuggle gum arabic through the RSF

because the RSF controls all production areas," Sorge said.

Sorge, who fled to Egypt after RSF forces stole his entire

gum supply in 2023, shared WhatsApp messages with Reuters

showing these gum traders had reached out on five separate

occasions, including as recently as January 9.

Since October, the RSF banned exports for 12 goods to Egypt,

including gum Arabic, in retaliation for what it said was

Egyptian airstrikes against the militia.

Asked for comment, the paramilitary said it banned what it

called smuggling to Egypt because it was not benefiting Sudan.

A buyer, who declined to be named for safety reasons,

recounted how he also was approached by shadowy gum traders.

"I have (acacia) seyal cleaned open quantities ready for

shipping," read one WhatsApp message, reviewed by Reuters and

offering a load of seyal gum, a cheaper gum arabic variety.

In subsequent WhatsApp messages, the trader proposed to schedule

shipping every two months at a negotiable price of $1,950 per

metric tonne, lower than the $3,000 per tonne the buyer said he

would expect to pay for this kind of load.

In a different WhatsApp conversation with the same buyer,

reviewed by Reuters, a different trader said that trucks

carrying gum arabic had crossed the Sudanese border into South

Sudan and Egypt.

In all instances, the gum traders could not provide a Sedex

certification, the buyer said, adding that he declined the

offers for fear the gum came from RSF-affiliated networks.

CHANGING ROUTES

Before the Sudanese civil war, the raw gum would be sorted

in Khartoum and then trucked to Port Sudan, on the Red Sea, to

be shipped via the Suez Canal around the world.

Since late last year, however, RSF-affiliated gum Arabic

started to appear on sale at two informal markets on the border

between the Sudanese province of West Kordofan and South Sudan,

according to a buyer based in an RSF-controlled area, who

declined to be named due to safety concerns.

The buyer, a major trader in the West Kordofan area, said

traders collect gum from Sudanese land owners and sell them to

South Sudanese traders in these markets for U.S. dollars.

All of this happens with RSF protection, which the traders pay

for, the buyer added.

Abdallah Mohamed, a producer who owns acacia groves in West

Kordofan, also told Reuters the RSF takes a fee from the traders

for protection. The paramilitary group has diversified its

interests into gold, livestock, agriculture and banking.

South Sudan Information Minister Michael Makuei, who is also

the government's spokesperson, told Reuters transport of gum

through South Sudan was not the government's responsibility.

Calls and messages to Joseph Moum Majak, the minister of trade

and industry for South Sudan, went unanswered.

The RSF also takes the product to the Central African

Republic through the border town of Um Dafoog, the buyer said,

adding that some goes to Chad.

A wholesale buyer, based outside Sudan, told Reuters the gum was

now being exported through Mombasa in Kenya and South Sudan's

capital Juba.

Arabic gum of illicit origin has also appeared on sale

online. Isam Siddig, a Sudanese gum processor who is now a

refugee in Britain, told Reuters his warehouses in Khartoum had

been raided by the RSF after he fled in April 2023 with three

suitcases of gum in tow.

A year later, his gum products appeared on sale, still in

his company's branded packaging, in an online Facebook group

according to a screenshot shared with Reuters.