Commerce ministry amends rules for guar gum export

KOLKATA: Guar gum exporters heave a sigh of relief as commerce ministry withdraws its notification on permissible chemicals content. This will spur the movement of guar gum from India to the EU nations, where demand is rising in a wide range of industrial applications.

India had exported Rs 2,000-crore worth guar gum in FY11. Earlier, the Director General of Foreign Trade ( DGFT) had issued a notification (No. 47 of 18.05.2011) stipulating that export of guar gum to the EU be allowed only if it does not contain Penta Chlorophenol (PCP) in any proportion.

A senior commerce ministry official said that this notification has been rescinded. Thus, the earlier stipulation of Notification No. 50 of 06.07.2010 of allowing presence up to 0.01 mg per kg of PCP in the consignments exported to EU will continue to be valid. The guar gum industry in India has been following the quality requirements 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,” Debjani Roy, executive director of Shefexil, said. A guar gum trader added: “Following the commerce ministry’s new guideline, movement of guar gum has started from Kandla port.

There is a huge demand from the European Union for guar gum, and 2011 is expected to be a good year for guar gum exporters .” India commands about 80% of the global guar gum 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.