Market evolution: Natural gums and resins (CN 1301) — 2015–2025
Introduction
This report examines the European Union's external trade in products under Combined Nomenclature code 1301 — covering lac, natural gums, resins, gum-resins, balsams and other natural oleoresins — over the period 2015 to 2025. The code encompasses two main sub-headings: natural gum Arabic (130120) and all other natural gums, resins and oleoresins excluding gum Arabic (130190). Drawing on trade data for EU trade with non-EU countries, the analysis highlights a market defined by a decisive shift from volume-driven to price-driven growth, a notable geographic reorientation of supplier and buyer relationships, and a widening asymmetry in the value profile of the EU's import and export baskets.
1. A Structural Shift from Volume to Value
The most striking feature of EU trade in CN 1301 over the decade is the divergence between traded quantities and traded values. While physical volumes have remained broadly stable, trade values have surged, driven by sustained unit-price increases on both the import and export sides.
1.1 Export values rose 70% on essentially flat volumes
EU exports of CN 1301 products grew from €122.7 million in 2015 to €209.0 million in 2025, an increase of 70.3%. Over the same period, the volume shipped barely moved — from 33,909 tonnes to 33,701 tonnes (−0.6%). The entire growth in export value therefore derives from a 71.3% increase in the average export unit price, which rose from €3,619/t to €6,201/t. The price trajectory was not linear: a first plateau was visible around 2016–2019 (roughly €3,200–3,700/t), followed by an acceleration from 2021 onwards that brought the unit price to its 2025 record of €6,201/t.
1.2 Import volumes grew modestly while prices compounded
EU imports rose from €169.5 million (2015) to €246.2 million (2025), a gain of 45.3%. Imported volumes increased by 10.4% (from 82,203 t to 90,784 t), but the lion's share of the value increase came from a 31.5% rise in the average import price (from €2,062/t to €2,712/t). Unlike exports, import prices dipped between 2019 and 2020 (to €1,590/t) before recovering sharply, suggesting a pandemic-related demand shock followed by a post-COVID rebound amplified by tighter global supply conditions.
1.3 The trade deficit narrowed despite structural import dependence
The EU consistently runs a trade deficit in CN 1301. In 2015, the deficit stood at €46.8 million. By 2025 it had narrowed to €37.2 million — an improvement of 20.4%. Remarkably, the deficit briefly turned into a small surplus in one year (the 2019 maximum of +€13.0 million), before swinging back as import values surged. The convergence is explained by the fact that export prices rose faster than import prices over the period (+71.3% vs. +31.5%), gradually improving the EU's terms of trade in this product category.
| Metric | 2015 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exports — value (€M) | 122.7 | 209.0 | +70.3% |
| Exports — volume (kt) | 33.9 | 33.7 | −0.6% |
| Exports — unit price (€/t) | 3,619 | 6,201 | +71.3% |
| Imports — value (€M) | 169.5 | 246.2 | +45.3% |
| Imports — volume (kt) | 82.2 | 90.8 | +10.4% |
| Imports — unit price (€/t) | 2,062 | 2,712 | +31.5% |
| Trade balance (€M) | −46.8 | −37.2 | +20.4% |
2. Geographic Realignment: New Partners, Shifting Dependencies
Behind the aggregate figures, a significant reconfiguration of trade partners has taken place. Supply-side geography has shifted towards Sub-Saharan Africa, while export destinations have diversified towards North America and Asia.
2.1 Sudan consolidates its role as the EU's dominant supplier; Chad emerges rapidly
Sudan has remained the EU's single largest source of CN 1301 imports throughout the period, growing from €69.4 million (2015) to €94.6 million (2025), a 36.4% increase. This reflects Sudan's central role as the world's leading producer of gum Arabic. However, the most dramatic change on the supply side is the rise of Chad: EU imports from Chad surged from €13.5 million to €47.7 million (+253.5%), making it the third-largest supplier by 2025. Chad's growth tracks the broader Sahel gum belt production, where the Acacia senegal harvest has expanded.
At the same time, some traditional suppliers declined sharply:
| Supplier | 2015 (€M) | 2025 (€M) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sudan | 69.4 | 94.6 | +36.4% |
| Brazil | 18.5 | 21.9 | +18.2% |
| Chad | 13.5 | 47.7 | +253.5% |
| Argentina | 0.2 | ~0.0 | −100.0% |
| United Kingdom | 15.3 | 8.7 | −43.5% |
| India | 8.8 | 16.5 | +87.9% |
| Somalia | 7.6 | 5.0 | −34.1% |
Argentina's collapse to virtually zero (from €6.4 million at its peak) and the halving of UK-origin imports are noteworthy. The UK decline likely reflects post-Brexit trade diversion, while Argentina's disappearance suggests either a production shock or a loss of competitiveness relative to African producers.
2.2 Export destinations diversified, with the United States and Switzerland leading growth
The top export partners show a clear pattern: the United States remained the largest single destination, growing from €26.9 million to €56.5 million (+109.8%). Switzerland's imports from the EU more than tripled (+218.7%, from €7.1 million to €22.6 million), while China's purchases more than doubled (+113.5%, from €6.8 million to €14.5 million). These gains were partly offset by declines in exports to Brazil (−30.0%) and the United Kingdom (−23.0%).
| Destination | 2015 (€M) | 2025 (€M) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 26.9 | 56.5 | +109.8% |
| United Kingdom | 12.4 | 9.5 | −23.0% |
| Switzerland | 7.1 | 22.6 | +218.7% |
| China | 6.8 | 14.5 | +113.5% |
| Brazil | 13.3 | 9.3 | −30.0% |
| Türkiye | 4.3 | 9.7 | +126.7% |
| Mexico | 3.8 | 7.3 | +93.0% |
2.3 France dominates intra-EU positioning, while trade concentration remains moderate
Among EU Member States, France is by far the leading actor on both the import and export sides. French imports of CN 1301 reached €144.2 million in 2025 (61.2% above 2015), and French exports reached €143.6 million (+62.8%). France alone accounted for roughly 59% of extra-EU imports and 69% of extra-EU exports by value in 2025 — a testimony to the country's central role in gum Arabic processing and the trading of high-value resins and balsams (notably via Marseille, a historical hub for the gum trade). Germany ranked a distant second on both flows. Portugal showed a remarkable +1,845% increase in imports, rising from €1.1 million to €21.4 million, potentially reflecting new re-export or processing activity.
The Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI) confirms moderate concentration on the import side (HHI by value at 2,030 in 2025, largely unchanged from 2015), and low concentration on the export side (HHI at 1,033, up 20.9%). Import concentration by volume actually fell (from 3,248 to 2,799), suggesting that import origins are diversifying in physical terms even as value remains concentrated on Sudan.
3. Product Composition: Gum Arabic Dominates Imports, High-Value Resins Drive Exports
The breakdown by sub-heading reveals a fundamentally different product mix for EU imports and exports, with important implications for understanding the EU's role as a processing and re-distribution hub.
3.1 Gum Arabic accounts for the bulk of import volume but not value
Gum Arabic (CN 130120) represents the dominant share of EU imports by weight: 65,286 tonnes in 2025 out of 90,784 tonnes total (71.9%). However, it accounted for a smaller share of import value (€173.2 million out of €246.2 million, or 70.3%), reflecting its lower unit price (€2,652/t in 2025 versus €2,865/t for the broader 130190 category). Importantly, the gum Arabic import price more than doubled over the period, from €1,862/t in 2015 to a peak of €2,652/t in 2025 — the sharpest sustained increase in any sub-segment, driven by rising Sahelian production costs, climate pressures, and strong food-industry demand (gum Arabic is widely used as an emulsifier and stabiliser).
The 130190 segment (other natural gums, resins, balsams and oleoresins) showed more volatile pricing. Its import price peaked at €3,042/t in 2022 before falling back to €2,160/t in 2024 and rising again to €2,865/t in 2025, suggesting a more heterogeneous and less liquid market.
3.2 Export composition is dominated by gum Arabic by volume, but non-gum-Arabic products command dramatically higher prices
EU exports of gum Arabic (130120) amounted to 32,220 tonnes valued at €158.8 million in 2025, implying a unit export price of €4,929/t — well above the import price of €2,652/t. This spread reflects the EU's role in processing, blending, and quality-sorting imported raw gum Arabic before re-exporting it at a premium.
The 130190 segment tells a more striking story. Export volumes were far smaller (1,481 tonnes in 2025) but the unit price reached €33,850/t — nearly seven times the gum Arabic export price and almost twelve times the import price of the same category. This segment includes high-value oleoresins, balsams and specialty resins (such as frankincense, myrrh, mastic, and dammar) that undergo significant value addition within the EU. The 2025 price of €33,850/t is a new peak for the series, partly driven by a compositional shift: the 2024 volume spike to 6,108 tonnes (at a lower price of €11,105/t) was not repeated, and the 2025 figure likely reflects a smaller, higher-value export basket.
| Segment | Indicator | 2015 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 130120 — Gum Arabic | Import volume (t) | 55,958 | 65,286 | +16.7% |
| Import value (€M) | 104.2 | 173.2 | +66.2% | |
| Import price (€/t) | 1,862 | 2,652 | +42.4% | |
| Export volume (t) | 30,412 | 32,220 | +5.9% | |
| Export value (€M) | 94.4 | 158.8 | +68.2% | |
| Export price (€/t) | 3,104 | 4,929 | +58.8% | |
| 130190 — Other resins | Import volume (t) | 26,245 | 25,498 | −2.8% |
| Import value (€M) | 65.3 | 73.1 | +11.9% | |
| Import price (€/t) | 2,488 | 2,865 | +15.2% | |
| Export volume (t) | 3,497 | 1,481 | −57.6% | |
| Export value (€M) | 28.3 | 50.2 | +77.3% | |
| Export price (€/t) | 8,095 | 33,850 | +318.2% |
3.3 France and Greece display clear export specialisation
The specialisation analysis for 2025 reveals that France has the highest Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage (RSCA) in CN 1301 exports at 0.78, with an RCA of 8.17 — meaning France is more than eight times as specialised in this product as the EU average. France accounts for 63.8% of the EU's CN 1301 export value but only 7.8% of total EU exports, underscoring the niche importance of this trade for the French economy. Greece follows with an RSCA of 0.62 (RCA 4.20), likely reflecting its role in mastic and other Mediterranean resins. At the other end of the spectrum, Romania, Estonia, Hungary, Denmark and Bulgaria show negligible specialisation, with RCA values close to zero.
3.4 Volatility is concentrated in politically fragile supply chains
The coefficient of variation analysis highlights the instability of several import sources. Egypt (CV = 1.89), Argentina (0.85), Somalia (0.50) and Mali (0.48) are the most volatile suppliers by value — consistent with the political and climatic instability of the Sahel and Horn of Africa regions where most gum Arabic is harvested. On the export side, Switzerland (CV = 0.65) and Brazil (0.59) show the highest volatility, partly explained by their small absolute volumes and occasional large shipments. A specific price shock event was detected in 2022 for EU-to-Brazil exports, where unit prices surged by 47.4% with an abnormality score of 4.6, potentially linked to a one-off high-value shipment or to supply disruptions affecting Brazilian domestic availability.
Conclusion
Over the 2015–2025 period, EU trade in natural gums and resins (CN 1301) has been shaped by three converging dynamics. First, a pervasive price-driven value growth has lifted both import and export values well above what flat or slowly growing volumes would suggest, reflecting global commodity inflation, tightening supply from climate-affected Sahelian producers, and rising demand from the food, pharmaceutical and fragrance industries. Second, a geographic reorientation has occurred, with Chad emerging as a major supplier alongside established Sudan, while the EU's export footprint has expanded towards the United States, Switzerland and China. France's overwhelming dominance on both sides of the ledger confirms its historical and continuing central role as the EU's gateway for this trade. Third, the product-level asymmetry between a high-volume, moderate-price gum Arabic import flow and a low-volume, very-high-price specialty resin export flow demonstrates the EU's function as a value-adding intermediary — importing raw natural exudates and re-exporting processed, quality-differentiated products at multiples of the original import price.
Looking ahead, the main risks relate to supply-chain concentration in politically fragile Sahelian states, the sustained upward pressure on gum Arabic prices due to climate change in the Acacia senegal belt, and the potential for demand shifts as food and beverage manufacturers explore synthetic alternatives to natural gum Arabic. The EU's narrow export specialisation — heavily reliant on France — also presents a vulnerability that warrants monitoring.