Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

South Sudan

South Sudan Monthly Market Price Monitoring Bulletin, February 2018

Situation Report
Source
Posted
Originally published

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Currency Exchange Rate: The South Sudanese Pound (SSP) has continued to depreciate. In January 2018, the average exchange rate of US Dollar to SSP stood at SSP 211 and SSP 131 in the parallel and official markets, compared to SSP 190 and SSP 127 in the previous month. During the last 12 months, the parallel exchange rate increased from SSP 101 to 211 (110 percent depreciation) per US Dollar. In January, highest divergence (62 percent) between official and parallel exchange rate was observed since 2016.

  • Cereal Prices: A mixed behavior was observed in the price of sorghum in different markets. Compared to the previous month, it decreased by 12 to 20 percent in Konyokonyo, Bor, Bentiu and Yida, while stable price was observed in markets of Kapoeta South, Torit, Wau and Rumbek. On the contrary, price of sorghum increased in Wunrok (67 percent), Aweil (62 percent) and Mingkaman (11 percent).

  • Terms of Trade (ToT): Compared to December 2017, disproportionate increase in price of sorghum led the ToT with cereal to deteriorate in Wunrok (30 percent), Kapoeta South (17 percent) and Aweil (seven percent).
    Conversely, increases in price of goat coupled with decreases in price of sorghum contributed to improvements in ToT in Konyokonyo, Mingkaman, Wau, Rumbek and Yida in the range of 40 to 100 percent.

  • Fuel Prices: Improved supply of fuel has contributed to narrow fuel price divergence between connected markets. In January 2018, around 70 percent of monitored markets witnessed either stable or decreased fuel prices, compared to the previous month. Depending on currency exchange rate, in January 2018 the price of fuel in most of the monitored markets remained slightly above the equivalent of 1 US Dollar in SSP as per parallel market exchange rate. Compared to January 2017, fuel price in all monitored markets increased by 75 to 260 percent for diesel and 40 to 190 percent for petrol.

  • Outlook: As the stock from seasonal harvest gets depleted, households will have to depend more on market purchases to meet their food requirements. Thus, prices of staple food commodities are likely to increase in the coming months.

Related Content