200% guar gum demand spike drives replacement demand, TIC Gums

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A 200% rise in demand for guar gum over the past 12 months is driving demand within the beverage industry for effective replacements, according to US firm TIC Gums, which has just launched such a product.

A company spokesman told BeverageDaily.com that its new product, Ticaloid GE 306 was an "effective replacement" for guar gum used in powdered, instant bevereages when used on a one-to-one basis.

It is designed to reduce the use of guar gum but also improve beverage thickness, and is designed for use in instant beverages such as lemonade and other powdered drinks: powdered energy drinks, powdered drinks for children and instant tea.

Demand for guar gum was up over 200% compared to a year ago, the spokesman added, due to unusually high demand from the oil and gas industry.

He said: "Requirements from drilling companies led to more than double the overall demand for guar gum over the last year. Of course, the supply challenge in 2011 was shaped by both raw material availability and the industry’s production capacity to manage such a sudden and significant increase in demand."

The spokesman added: "There is a “bottleneck” around the overall guar industry’s manufacturing capacity, which will remain a challenge no matter what happens to the availability of seeds. The bottom line is that without a reduction in demand, 2012 supply limits and historically high prices are still expected."

Core market for the product was the US, the spokesman said. "But we are also interested in Brazil, Western European countries and parts of Asia."