GAUR

Guar,or cluster bean, (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub) is a drought-tolerant annual legume crop. Guar is being grown in India since ancient time and the Tender Green Guar is an important source of nutrition to animals and humans and is consumed as a vegetable and cattle feed The Guar legume plant is an agricultural product grown in arid zones of west and North West India and parts of Pakistan.

Gaur Extracts

Extracts from Gaur seed accounts for - Gaur Split/Gum- 29% (+/- 4% variance)
The ratio of Churi and Korma varies from 30% to 41% depending upon the quality of the seed.
Split/Gum is further refined to Guar Powder
Churi and Korma are used as Cattle Feed

Note - India accounts for 80% of the total guar produced in the world.

Gaur producing states in India

Rajasthan - 70% of total produced in India.
Gujarat
Haryana
Punjab
Uttar Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh

Gaur producing countries

Pakistan
Sudan
USA

Export from India

USA
European countries
Guar production areawise

Details/ Year wise	1998-99	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
*Gross area under cultivation (lac ha)**	16.12	26.48	30.56	24.13	5.56	20
*Production (lac tons)**	3.2	2.32	4.81	7.63	0.28	6
*Yield ( Kg/ha)**	NA	NA	NA	316	50	300
All India production (lac tons) @	4.5	3.31	6.81	10.9	0.4	8.57
Value (Rs crore)^	495	364	749	1199	44	942

* The details are for the state of Rajasthan. Source: NABARD
@ Assumption of 70% of the crop production is from Rajasthan.
Estimated at current market value of Rs 1100 per quintal

Pricing Pattern

Guar seed has shelf life of more than 3 years without losing out on any of its properties or qualities. It requires the barest minimum maintenance and handling environment. The price range of Guar seed ranges from Rs 850/- per qtl to Rs 6500/- qtl.

Market Estimate

Based on the prevailing market price, the cost and volume of trade of the potential Guar market has been arrived at based on the 2003-04 estimated production of 85.7 lac quintals of Guar seeds and is valued at Rs 1002.83 crores.

Product	Approx %	Price per qtl	Quantity estimate (lakh quintals)	Amount (Rs crore)
Churi	30	Rs 520	25.71	133.69
Korma	37	Rs 625	31.71	198.19
Split/Gum	29	Rs 2700	24.85	670.95
Total				1002.83

Properties of Guar Powder

Guar Gum Refine Splits is the sole raw material for processing Guar Gum Powder for pharmaceutical and Food grade material. The properties of Guar Powder, which make it useful in various applications, are -

Easy solubility in cold and hot water
Film forming property
Resistance to oils, greases and solvent
Better thickening agent
Water binding capacity
High viscosity
Functioning at low temperatures

Various Industrial applications of Guar Powder

Food, pet-food, nutritional products and pharmaceuticals.
Personal care products.
Household products.
Paints.
Textiles and carpets.
Mining and flocculation.
Oils, gas and other deep well operations.
Paper.
Building and construction products.
Explosives.
Foundries and Ceramics.
Industrial cleaners and related formulations.
Agricultural formulations and applications.

General Characteristics

Guar, or clusterbean, (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub), is the source of a natural hydrocolloid, which is cold water soluble forming thick solutions at low concentrations
The guar seed consists of three parts: the germ, the endosperm, and the husk. It is from the endosperm that guar gum is derived. 100 Kilos of beans, minus their bean pods yields roughly 29 kilos of endosperm; 29 kilos of Guar powder.
Industrially it is used in mining, petroleum drilling and textile manufacturing.
In food it is used as a thickener and as a mean of preventing ice crystal formation in frozen desserts.

Supply Scenario

India is the major producer of Guar Seed followed by Pakistan and US. India's guarseed production fluctuates between years and has been around 2-6 lakh tons in the recent years. India's guar production in 2003, is estimated at around 6 lakh tons.
India accounts for 80% of the total guar produced in the world. 70% of India's production comes from Rajasthan. The other producers are Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Taking the US, Australian, African crop the total world supply of Guar Split is around 4-5 lakh tons in a normal year. It may even increase to 8 lakh tons as has been visible in 2003-04.
Guar is a crop of semi arid - sub tropical areas spread over the north and north west of India and east and south east of Pakistan. It is grown in arid zones of Rajasthan, some parts of Gujarat, Harayana, Madhya Pradesh. The main guar-growing region in India is Rajasthan.
Guar is a rain fed monsoon crop, which requires 8-15 inch of rain in 3-4 spells and is harvested in October - November. It is sown immediately after first showers say in July and harvested around November each year. The crop yield is directly related to the monsoon. It requires a relative long growing season of 20-25 weeks.

Demand Scenario

World market for guar gum is estimated to be around 150,000 tons/year, 70% of which is produced by India and Pakistan.
US consumption is estimated to be around 40,000 tons/year.
The export from India is around 115,000 tons and the domestic market is of around 25,000 tons.
India exported 33000 tons of guar gum refined split and 84000 tons of guar gum treated and pulverized in 2002-03, which together accounts for an export of 117000 tons of guargum exports valued above Rs. 300 crores.
The main demand of guar seed originates from the US petroleum industry and also the oil fields of Middle East.

Market Influencing Factors

The production is directly related to monsoon. In Rajasthan, the rainfall fluctuates between years and thus results in high volatility in production and consequently on prices.
While the demand is almost constant over the years, supply varies largely between years.
The physical market of the commodity involves speculators and stockists.The commodity is subjected to a long storage period based on demand and market prices.
There are no Government rules and regulations governing the production, distribution, marketing, exports or imports of the commodity and the market forces determine the prices.

Geographic/Agronomic suitability

Guar grows best in sandy soils and it needs moderate, intermittent rainfall with lots of sunshine. Too much precipitation can cause the plants to become more leafy, thereby reducing the number of pods and/or the number of seeds per pod which affects the size and yield of the seeds. Guar is a rain fed monsoon crop, which requires 8-15 inch of rain in 3-4 spell and is generally sown after the monsoon rainfall in the second half of July to early August and is harvested in October - November. Guar requires 2 rainfalls before sowing, one rainfall when the crop buds and one rainfall when the crop comes up well and blossoming starts.