Sudan Civil War Shifts Gum Arabic Trade as RSF Controls Key Production Areas

The Rapid Support Forces overran Al-Nahud in May 2025 and banned agricultural shipments to government-held areas including Obeid. The militia also imposed taxes on gum arabic trucks that sometimes exceeded $2,000. Obeid once hosted the world’s largest gum arabic exchange.

Trucks carrying amber-colored nodules made twice-daily trips from Al-Nahud, 120 miles to the west and the main hub for the prized Hashab variety. Adam Ahmad, a 47-year-old farmer near Al-Nahud, said he used to deliver seven tons per trip. He now brings six bags, or roughly half a ton, after taking a week-long route to avoid RSF patrols.

Before the takeover Ahmad could tap four orchards in a single outing. He now risks only one or two because of possible harassment. Afritec, a Sudanese processing firm, lost 3,000 tons of gum when RSF fighters looted its Al-Nahud warehouses along with trucks, tractors and generators.

N. Panel of Experts 2025 report that said commanders condoned the theft as compensation for fighters. Ahmad Mastour of Afritec said the company handled thousands of tons before the war.

Production stopped completely this year. The RSF smuggles gum through border crossings it controls into Libya, Chad, Central African Republic and South Sudan. Once there the gum is mixed with local product to bypass company sourcing rules aimed at conflict zones.

Chad has overtaken Sudan as the top supplier of gum arabic to the United States and nearly doubled its exports to France, according to customs data from both countries. Sudan earned $183 million from gum arabic in 2022, and the trade supported roughly five million people. The RSF and its associated administration now collect an estimated $1 billion to $2 billion a year from various commodities.

The civil war began in April 2023 between the Sudanese military and the RSF. It has killed hundreds of thousands, displaced 14 million people and left almost 20 million facing acute hunger. Sudan once supplied up to 80 percent of the world’s gum arabic, a resin from acacia trees used as a thickener and stabilizer in food, medicine and cosmetics.

Mahmoud Abdul-Raouf, chief executive of Gezira Group in Port Sudan, said neighboring countries that exported little gum before the war are now shipping large volumes. Mastour said merchants sell looted gum in Chad for half the normal price. “If a ton of gum arabic is $5,000, in Chad they’ll sell it for $2,000,” he said.

N. report earlier this year stated that RSF actions in Darfur, especially around El Fasher where militiamen are believed to have killed 70,000 people, show the hallmarks of genocide. French firms Nexira and Alland & Robert buy only gum certified by the Sudanese government in Port Sudan, yet traders say they have also purchased from countries that mask Sudanese origin.

“Everyone here is affected by the war, from the smallest farmer to the largest merchant,” Mastour said.