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INTRODUCTION
Given the rapidly changing humanitarian context in Sudan, the Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (JMMI) was established under the guidance of the Sudan Cash Working Group (CWG) to inform cash-based interventions and to gain a deeper understanding of market dynamics in the country. The JMMI aims to inform market-based programming in Sudan through monthly monitoring of prices of selected food and non-food items (NFI) as well as other critical market indicators.
Marketplaces across Sudan are assessed through two different channels: (i) in some state capitals, prices of food items are monitored by the World Food Programme (WFP), (ii) in other locations, prices and other critical market indicators are recorded every month by JMMI partners through interviews with purposively sampled retailers. Data for the latest round of the JMMI was collected from 5th to12th November.
The factsheet presents an overview of median prices for food and non-food items (NFIs) in the main markets of the localities assessed, a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the interim Minimum Expenditure Basket (MEB), and the Market Functionality Score (MFS) for the markets assessed at locality level.
Key Findings
• Overall, the highest median prices for the Minimum Expenditure Baskets (MEB) were observed in West Darfur, White Nile and Blue Nile. The most expensive MEBs both with and without top-up items were recorded in Ar Reif Ash Shargi locality in South Kordofan State (720,167 SDG and 662,667 respectively). Other localities with highest MEB with top-up items included: Ag Geneina (West Darfur, 634,447 SDG), Mukjar (Central Darfur; 632,816 SDG) and Ad Diwaim (White Nile; 630,371 SDG).
• The median cost of the food items in the MEB indicated a decrease of 21% from October (330,138 SDG) to November 2024 (262,270 SDG). This can be attributed to agricultural cycles during the harvest season (November-January for sorghum and millets). The JMMI data indicates an average decrease of 38% on the median cost of sorghum between October and November 2024. The most expensive food components of the MEB were reported in Ar Reif Ash Shargi in South Kordofan, (398,314 SDG) while the lowest food prices, were also reported in South Kordofan in the locality of Um Durein (178,746 SDG).
• The median cost of the non-food items (NFI) in the MEB decreased from October 2024 (82,166 SDG) to November 2024 (78,666 SDG) across the assessed localities. The most expensive NFI component of the MEB (without top-up items) was reported in Mukjar, Central Darfur (183,666 SDG) and the lowest in Ar Rashad, South Kordofan (40,866 SDG).
• Overall, markets tended to be the least functional in South Kordofan state where 4 out of the 9 assessed markets scored less than 50 out of the maximum total score of 100. Additionally, The findings from this assessment show that the high prices of items, low affordability, low market accessibility, resilience gaps, and poor infrastructure negatively impacted the functionality of these markets.