Humble Guar In The Spotlight

"Without guar, you cannot have fracturing fluids," said Michael J. Economides, a professor of engineering at the University of Houston who is a fracking expert. "And what everybody is worried about is that there is virtually no guar out there now."

India produces about 85 percent of the world's guar. As worries rose about the prospects for this year's monsoon, which is vital for an adequate crop, speculation over guar production built to a frenzy. Trading in guar futures was even suspended, and with the monsoon still behind schedule, it remains postponed. Ramesh Abhishek, India's chief commodities market regulator, said guar trading would resume when supplies proved adequate. "If the physical market doesn't provide enough supplies, then the futures market causes more harm than good," Mr. Abhishek said.

Now, an international effort is under way to ensure that guar supplies come closer to meeting the soaring demand, and hundreds of thousands of small farmers here have been recruited in the effort. Leading the way is Vikas WSP, an Indian company that specializes in the production of guar powders. 

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