Africa · Northern

The Sudan gum arabic trade, a little-known but strategically vital commodity embedded in everything from soft drinks to pharmaceuticals, is now being systematically looted and taxed by the country’s warring parties to sustain a conflict that has already triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

UN warns Sudan's gum arabic trade is financing the war (Photo internet reproduction)

The UN draws a direct line from acacia resin to war finance

On 15 July 2026, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) delivered an unusually blunt assessment: Sudan’s gum arabic trade has become a pillar of the country’s war economy, alongside looted gold. Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters that warring parties have redrawn trading routes, looted stockpiles, and used the proceeds to perpetuate the conflict that erupted in April 2023.

The UN’s trend-analysis report details how the commodity chain has grown more opaque, with exports from areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) being smuggled through neighbouring states and re-exported as locally produced goods. This makes traceability extremely difficult for downstream buyers in Europe and North America who rely on the resin for everyday consumer products.

Before the fighting began, Sudan accounted for roughly 70 to 80 percent of global crude gum arabic exports, with annual shipments worth up to $183 million. The UN now warns that civilians involved in the trade face arbitrary detention, looting, and extortion at checkpoints controlled by both the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

Why a tree resin matters to global boardrooms

Gum arabic is an acacia resin that functions as an emulsifier and stabiliser in soft drinks, confectionery, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. It is the reason the flavour oils in a cola stay suspended in liquid rather than floating to the top, and it is practically irreplaceable at scale for many formulations.

That makes it a low-profile commodity with extraordinarily high strategic leverage. The UN says disruption to Sudan’s value chain has already caused price increases globally, and Al Jazeera has cited projections of nearly 200,000 tonnes imported in 2024, worth around $300 million, a figure that captures the broader downstream market beyond Sudan’s own export value.

For multinational corporations in the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical sectors, the opacity now embedded in the supply chain creates a serious responsible-sourcing problem. European firms, particularly in France and Germany, are major buyers of raw gum arabic, and the burden is shifting to them to investigate whether their inputs passed through conflict zones.

How the Sudan gum arabic trade fuels both sides of the war

The mechanism is straightforward and mirrors the playbook seen in other conflict-commodity zones. Armed actors control terrain, transport corridors, and border crossings, then extract revenue through fees, taxes, protection money, confiscation, and outright smuggling.

A 2025 report by the Dutch peace organisation PAX for Peace found that the RSF has particularly benefited from trade-route control and looting in Darfur and Kordofan, while the SAF, which runs the de facto government in Port Sudan, also levies charges on the trade. Business and Human Rights reporting, citing Reuters investigations, describes RSF fighters collecting payments at checkpoints and escorting convoys, while the army imposes taxes and tariffs at ports and formal border posts.

The PAX study estimated the value of the trade at up to $125 million in the sample it examined, while stressing that both sides extract revenue through control of routes and paperwork. Goods from RSF-controlled areas are increasingly laundered into formal supply chains via transit countries including Chad, South Sudan, Kenya, Libya, and Egypt.

Gold, livestock, and the broader war economy

Gum arabic is only one piece of a larger self-financing war machine. The UN places it alongside gold, which has long been the headline conflict resource in Sudan, and analysts from the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) note that the war is now sustained by livestock, gum arabic, gold, oil, and foreign support.

The Los Angeles Times has reported that the RSF and associated forces earn roughly $1 billion to $2 billion annually from commodities, though that estimate is broader than gum arabic alone. What makes the resin trade particularly insidious is its invisibility: unlike gold, which grabs headlines and attracts sanctions, gum arabic moves through supply chains with far less scrutiny.

The war is increasingly a struggle over state power, taxation, logistics, and external backing, not merely battlefield control. Everyday commerce has been turned into a conflict resource, and the gum arabic trade exemplifies how a seemingly benign agricultural product can become a vector for violence when governance collapses.

The great-power contest and the BRICS read-through

Sudan’s war sits inside a larger regional contest where Gulf money, African transit hubs, and global consumer markets all intersect. The UN does not describe gum arabic as a direct great-power proxy war, but the commodity flows run through a transnational system that links Sudan’s battlefield to corporate boardrooms in Europe and North America.

For readers following the reshaping of commodity supply chains across the Global South, this story fits squarely within the dynamics explored in our pillar series Africa: The New Scramble. The scramble for critical minerals often dominates headlines, but the gum arabic case shows that even ancient agricultural commodities are being weaponised in modern conflicts where state authority has fractured.

The EU has been tightening measures on Sudan’s war economy, especially around gold, and the same due-diligence logic is now being applied to gum arabic. For Latin American readers accustomed to debates about conflict minerals and commodity traceability, the Sudanese case offers a stark parallel: when formal governance retreats, informal taxation of trade routes becomes the business model of war.

What to watch next in the Sudan gum arabic trade

The immediate pressure point will be corporate due diligence. NGOs and business-rights groups are increasingly calling on downstream multinationals to investigate whether their gum arabic inputs passed through conflict areas, and the UN’s public intervention strengthens the case for mandatory supply-chain audits.

A second front is sanctions enforcement. The EU’s tightening measures on Sudan’s war economy have so far focused on gold, but the same legal and reputational logic applies to gum arabic-linked trade, especially given the evidence of systematic looting and extortion documented by the UN and PAX.

Finally, watch the transit countries. Chad, South Sudan, and Egypt are the critical nodes through which laundered gum arabic reaches global markets, and any serious effort to choke off the trade will require pressure on those re-export hubs, a diplomatic challenge that touches on regional alliances and Gulf-state influence in the Horn of Africa.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Sudan’s gum arabic trade so important globally?

Sudan supplies roughly 70 to 80 percent of the world’s crude gum arabic, a natural emulsifier used in soft drinks, confectionery, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. Its near-irreplaceable role in stabilising flavour oils in beverages means any sustained disruption to Sudanese supply directly affects major multinational food and beverage companies, causing price increases and forcing difficult sourcing decisions.

How are the RSF and SAF making money from gum arabic?

Both warring parties extract revenue by controlling territory, transport corridors, and border crossings. The RSF levies fees at checkpoints, loots stockpiles, and escorts convoys in areas it controls, while the SAF imposes taxes and tariffs at ports and formal border posts. Gum arabic from RSF-held areas is also smuggled through Chad, South Sudan, and Egypt and re-exported as locally produced goods, laundering it into formal supply chains.

What does the UN warning mean for companies that buy gum arabic?

The UN’s July 2026 statement puts downstream buyers on notice that their supply chains may be directly linked to conflict finance. European firms in France and Germany are particularly exposed, and the growing opacity of the commodity chain increases the risk of regulatory action, reputational damage, and potential sanctions violations if companies cannot demonstrate adequate due diligence on their Sudanese gum arabic inputs.