Pasar gadang and Chinese traders

After the 2009 earthquake, china town at Padang was totally destroyed. Chinese traders got migrated to Medan and Jakarta.

Chinese temple at Padang

The town is now getting back to business. Most of the traditional Chinese traders in Padang trade in agricultural commodities like Nutmeg, Mace, Cocoa, Coffee, Betelnuts, Gambier and Cloves. These traders seldom export their goods overseas. They prefer selling their products locally.

Chinese traders were not interested in doing Gambier till last December (2010).

In the month of February 2011 and March 2011 these traders had bought Gambier. This Gambier which they bought is in the range of 20,000IDR to 25,000IDR. They keep the Gambier as a long term investment and speculating that the prices to go up to 30,000IDR levels.  The Holdings of Gambier stock range from 3Mt to 10MT per person.

Grades of Gambier

Gambier Crop Size

Difference in Production North and West Sumatra

The major differences are -

1. Planting - In West Sumatra they make seedlings at nursery for planting, but in North Sumatra (PakPak and Dairi ) they have Seedlings as well as Stem cut method for planting.
2. Harvesting of Gambier Leaves - In West Sumatra, normally farmers harvest only the matured leaves, and harvest form the bottom stems leaving the young leaves, but in North Sumatra they trim off all the leaves of the plant
3. Twigs of Gambier - In West Sumatra twigs of gmabier is also used for boiling along with the leaves for making gambier extract, while in North Sumatra they only use leaves for the production of extract and the twigs are sun dried and used as firewood
4. Boiling of Leaves - In West Sumatra leaves and twigs are tied up into a bundle and is steamed for 30 min, while in North Sumatra leaves are boiled in water in closed aluminum vessels for 30 mins
5. Reuse of Boiled and Pressed leaves - In West Sumatra after pressing the steamed leaves are not reused, but they are repressed, while in North Sumatra the used leaves are again boiled and repressed
6. Hygiene - North Sumatran farmers produce gambier more hygienically compared to the west Sumatran farmers
7. Adulteration - North Sumatra consider gambier as a food and does not adulterate, while in West Sumatra its not the case

........ need more information please write to us,,,,,

lumping up problems

Lumping of gambier is a killer problem,,,

Gambier has a tendency to absorb moisture. Even your Gambier is dry enough it absorbs moisture from the surroundings. If gambier has moisture it tends to stick each other forming lumps.

The chemistry behind it is,, the Gambier is having catechin, the catechin gets oxidized when it is in contact with water and form cutch ( cutch is complex tannin). This cutch is like black in colour and will easily stick each other.

If Gambier is lumped then the catechin percentage will drop drastically

The main causes of lumping are

1. improper drying
2. improper storage
3. improper transportation
4. climate change

Precautions to  be taken for not lumping are

·         If the Gambier is dried to 14% moisture we can reduce the chances of lumping. Like we say “poison is not required in bulk,, only a single drop can destroy the whole" likewise while drying Gambier ensure all the pieces are properly dried. If a single piece of Gambier is not properly dried then it can spoil the whole lot. Sun drying is preferred as it allows uniform drying.

·         Gambier must be stored in gunny bags with inner PP. After drying the Gambier must be kept in open to see that it is gaining moisture from the atmosphere or not before packing. The materials must not be poured directly on the ground as it can absorb moisture from the floor. Always store Gambier in wooden pallets and never store wet Gambier in plastic bags.

·         Never transport your Gambier cargo on rainy days. On rainy days the normal atmospheric humidity will be high and there are chances that Gambier can absorb moisture. Always prepare your truck/container with Kraft paper and with sufficient humidity absorbents like silica gel.

·         Climate is also a great factor, if you are transporting your cargo from a tropic climate to a cold/rainy climate. The chances of moisture getting in will be high. 

·         Please also take a note that your Gambier containers will be exposed to drastic climate changes in high seas, (cold nights, hot noon and rainy evenings). Always ensure that you have properly ventilated and no leak containers for transportation.

.....for more information please write to us.....

"COUNT",,,, counting less

Gambier Count

The Pakistan, Bangladesh and Surabaya grade

Count grade is the worst grade in gambier with respect to quality, but the beautiful grade with respect to the appearance. The grade has its name because its sold in counts in the destination markets. The material is supposed to have 100pcs in a kilogram and the colour must be brown to yellow.

Farmers mix urea to get these colours. and to get the unique uniform shape.

The main production markets for this grade is Gelugur, Sialang, Duran tinggi, Murapeti and Lubuk alai.

In all this kapur ix markets the farmers tend to produce less of this count material and have a trend to make booch. The main reason for this is the less demand at destination markets.

.... for more information please write to us......

what happened to Glass Ash ?

Till  2008, the Glass Ash testing method or the sedimentation method was the only means to check the quality of gambier.

Procedure of the Sedimentation method goes like this.... gambier samples are boiled with 4 times water and poured to a beaker, the sediment percentage is then calculated.

Importers/Exporters/collectors think that the low the sedimentation level means more the catechin and hence more yield. or lower percentage of sedimentation means the less gambier is adulterated.

This method lost its popularity, as farmers started mixing water soluble adultants in gambier, like "rock salt"

Some Indian Traders at Kanpur Markets are still testing their gambier by glass ash method as their quality norms for trading.

By scientific tests, it has been proved that the amount of ash percentage does not determine the amount of catechin.
 "a low glass ash cargo can have  low catechin and a high glass ash can have high catechin as well"

Catechin percentage had become the key quality parameter for the business now.


.....for more details please write to us......