Sourcing & logistics
From the gum belt to your dock.
Direct access at origin, quality assured before a single bag leaves the belt, and reliable delivery to any destination. This is the chain — and we own every link.
Photographed in the Sudanese gum belt
Where we source
Sudan's gum belt, region by region.
The belt runs coast to coast across the Sahel between roughly 10° and 14° N. Tap a region.
≈49% of Sudan’s output · Hashab
Kordofan
The historic heart of the belt. El-Obeid hosts the world’s largest gum arabic market, and hashab (A. senegal) gardens dominate.
Sourcing across Kordofan, Kassala & Gedaref, Darfur and the Blue Nile does more than match species and grade. A crop year is never identical across the belt, and buying across several producing regions is how we keep supply steady when a single area has a difficult season.
Stylized map for orientation, not a political boundary document.
Regional shares reflect Sudan's national production. Sudan produces roughly 70% of the world's gum arabic; the belt also extends into Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon and Mali.
The chain
Four steps, fully controlled.
Harvest & collection
Harvesters cut tapping slits after the autumn, around October to November, as Acacia senegal begins to shed its leaves. Gum exudes as nodules and hardens in the sun. The first pick comes about four to six weeks later, followed by several more collections every couple of weeks through the dry season. Acacia seyal often exudes gum naturally with little or no tapping. Sudan's long dry season does the work: with near-zero rainfall and low humidity for much of the year, the gum sun-hardens on the branch and dries to naturally low moisture, which helps preserve clean, high-grade lump and HPS.
Cleaning, sorting & grading
Lots are cleaned of bark and sand, hand-sorted into cleaned lump and HPS, then graded and, where required, kibbled or milled to specification.
Quality assurance at origin
Sampling and testing against your spec: physico-chemical, microbiological, particle size. No lot ships unverified.
Worldwide delivery
We ship FOB Port Sudan (Incoterms 2020) as standard, with CIF and other terms by arrangement, and export documentation that clears customs without surprises.
From Sudan to the world
Nothing changes hands in between.
Tapped, graded, documented, shipped — the same people at every step.
Hand-tapped, never felled
Wild acacia gives up its gum and keeps growing, season after season.
Graded before it ships
Cleaned, hand-graded and tested before anything leaves the gum belt.
Fair value at the farm gate
Long-term partnerships with the families who tap the trees.
Delivered globally
Export papers, packing and shipping your planners can rely on.
Quality assurance at origin
Verified before it ever leaves the belt.
Quality is decided at origin, where a lot can still be rejected before it ships. Every lot is graded, tested and documented, so what reaches your line is exactly what you specified.
Hand grading
Lump graded by eye and hand at origin: the craft judgment that defines premium quality, applied to every lot.
Physico-chemical testing
Moisture, ash, pH, viscosity, optical rotation. Every lot is profiled against your specification.
Microbiological control
Total plate count, yeasts & molds, E. coli, Salmonella, verified before any lot is released.
Particle-size verification
Mesh and granulation checked against the agreed spec for kibbled and milled grades.
Lot-level traceability
Origin records from collection market to container, auditable on request.
COA with every lot
A full certificate of analysis travels with every shipment: identity, purity, microbiology.
Supply continuity
Supply you can plan around.
Gum acacia is a niche material with a narrow origin base, and the manufacturers who build a formulation around it need more than a good first shipment. They need to know the same material will be there next season, and the season after.
Alley Pond was formed in New York, but not from a standing start. It grew out of working relationships at origin that go back decades, through export operations in Sudan and the Gulf that have been shipping gum acacia to international processors year after year. That history is the reason we can commit to repeat, contract-scale supply.
We source across several producing regions of the belt, we hold relationships directly with the people who tap and grade the crop, and we plan supply around a buyer's annual requirement. If your line depends on this ingredient, that continuity is the point.
Global reach
We ship worldwide.
From our origin platform we deliver to North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Oceania, on terms that work for your business. One contact, from contract to delivery.
We ship FOB Port Sudan (Incoterms 2020) as standard, with CIF and other terms by arrangement. Loading at Port Sudan, we're familiar with the major discharge ports our buyers use across North America, Europe and Asia.
- Food-grade big bags (500–1,000 kg), 25/50 kg PP bags or 25–50 kg kraft bags
- Palletized & shrink-wrapped on request
- Samples shipped by air courier ahead of contract
- One reply with a firm offer, usually within one business day
How sampling works
- Send your target spec.
- We ship evaluation samples by air courier ahead of contract.
- You approve against your line.
- We confirm a firm offer, usually within one business day.
Origin to export.
Global reach
Wherever you manufacture, we deliver.
Tell us your destination and volume. We'll come back with a firm offer, usually within one business day.