Renk Validation-Market Assessment, Upper Nile State-South Sudan

Renk County is one of the counties in Upper Nile State, located in the northern part of South Sudan and bordering Sudan to the Northern direction of South Sudan. The county can be accessible through different routings, by air, by road from Palouch to Renk, Maban to Renk and from Melut to Kaka and then to Renk via the water means. The county is estimated to have population of about 194,155 people according to South Sudan IPC report released in November 2022.
This study was to validate current market functionality after NRC’s market assessment was conducted in May 2023 in Renk Town, Upper Nile State, specifically to identify bottlenecks around the supply chains for Renk market on basic commodities.
To that end, this assessment utilized a mixed methods approach comprising of both qualitative (KIIs and FGDs)
Markets are operational to their capacities with Suk Shabi being the main market hosting wholesalers which is supplying the other markets with food and non-food items for trade. The food items available in the market are; sorghum grains, maize grains, wheat flour, rice, ground nuts, beans, sugar, salt, cooking oil. Not food items available in the market are; soap, scholastic materials (exercise books, pens, pencil, sharpener and rubber), plastic sheet, firewood, charcoal. The main currency in the market is SSP. Traders source for good from Juba, Malakal, Ethiopia/Kenya, and Sudan. Meanwhile, the displaced persons in the very much want to reach to their final destinations but constrained by financial resources. As a recommendation, Save the Children should solicit funding to support the vulnerable population in Renk County with cash based assistance as they wait to be transported to their last destinations from the transit centers.