In Pakistan, traders say that there has been a virtual wipe out of the crop and exports therefore will be almost nil. However, a few manufacturers in Pakistan said that farmers have managed to salvage some crop, though the exact figure is not yet known.

As for the production of guar seeds in India is concerned, initial reports (before December 1997) show that the output will be average this year. However, unprecedented December rains soured the hopes. While traders maintain that the crop is not really bad, most manufacturers said the crop has been poor and that appears logical.

A small scale producer from Ahmedabad based manufacturers have said that 50 per cent production of guar seeds have been destroyed. However,government sources said that out of an initial outlook of 80 lakh bags of 95 kgs each the revised production is likely to be in the range of 50-60 lakh bags. However, the government souce said that the expected production includes to some extent seeds that have blackened and are of not much use.

An fall out of this is very severe says ax exporter cum manufacturer. Guar gum exporters, on anticipation of a good crop had booked their exports in the months of October and November at the then prevailing price range of $1,100-$1,500 per tonne. A fall in price was expected by these exporters based on the initial reports prior to the December rains. However, after heavy rains that lashed in December, prices of the gum shot up and moved in a range of $2,000 - $2,500 per tonne. The cost of seeds too have shot up in the markets. And with lower contribution from Pakistan, prices are likely to shoot up further this year.

In India Guar seeds are mainly grown in semi-arid areas of Rajasthan, Haryana and Gujarat. Thecrop is sown in July and harvested in October, and needs two monsoon showers, one in early July and the other in September. The Thar desert provides ideal climatic conditions for the production of guar seeds, thus making India and Pakistan the two major suppliers of this product.

Owing to technological barriers only a few companies are engaged in this agro-polymer industry due to difficulty in meeting industrial specifications. Guar gum polymers are environment friendly and have a very strong potential.

Guar gum polymers are also used in oil drilling as viscosifiers for drilling muds and additives for enhanced oil recovery. For textile guar gum polymers are used in textile printing and to keep yarns smooth and strong during production. For the paper industry it is used at the wet-end to increase paper strength. For the food industry guar polymers can reduce fat and cholestrol contents, and enhances texture and stability. High water binding capacity of guar polymer is one of the main reasons for its use inmeat and fish products.

Speciality products are used as carriers, binders and disintegrants in tablets, surgical dusting powders and emulsion stabilisers.

Vikas WSP, a listed company, has recently developed special guar polymers for the tooth paste industry, thereby displacing the traditional and commonly used thickner CMC (synthetic) in the industry.

Natural polymers are widely considered to be safer alternative to synthetic polymers in developed countries, particularly in food, pharmaceutical and feedstuff applications where it is used as a thickener and emulsifier. Although emulsifiers and stabalisers merely make up one per cent of the raw material used for the ready to eat ice cream products, they do have a large influence on the quality of the end product.

Even the residue left behind after extracting the gum from the guar seed finds application. It is protien rich, churi-korma, and is sold as cattle feed to the dairy industry, reasonably good realisations adds to the realisation of guargums.

The main critical technical parameters in guar polymers are viscosity, gel strength, density, particle size, dissolving speed and conformity with global food and pharma grade acceptance norms. Different applications require these parameters in different proportions.