No-Pesticide Condition Vexes Guar Gum Exporters.

Indian food-grade guar gum export to the European Union is set to take a hit as the commerce ministry has directed exporters that there should be absolutely no pesticide content in the product. Till now, the commerce ministry had allowed a 0.01 milligram of pentacholorophenols (PCP), a pesticide, in a kg of food-grade guar gum.

The move comes at a time when the industry is flooded with orders from EU countries. "In FY10-11, the guar gum industry earned an export revenue of Rs 2,000 crore. And this year, the export trend is extremely positive. This recent notification (notification no. 47 RE-2010 dated May 18, 2011) has created a lot of confusion among exporters. We have taken up the matter with Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). We are hoping that things will be sorted out this week," said Debjani Roy, executive director of Shefexil. In fact, containers are piling up at Kandla port which is worrying guar gum exporters.

The guar gum industry in India has been following the quality requirements as laid down by the EU commission directive (No 258/2010 of March 25, 2010) and DGFT notification (No 50/2009-14 dated July 6, 2010). "There has been no case of dispute with the PCP presence limit of below 0.01mg/kg of guar gum," Roy added.

India is a leading exporter of guar gum. The country commands about 80% of the global production followed by Pakistan. Guar gum is derived from guar seeds (cluster beans), a legume crop that grows in semi-arid regions of the subcontinent. It is used as a thickening agent and as an additive in a wide variety of foods and dairy products such as yogurt, ice cream and soft cheese, bread, pasta ham, sausages, prepared fish and pastries. It is also used in animal feed. Guar gum tends to be preferred over other additives and is used as a food emulsifier, thickener and stabiliser.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com