© Science and Education Publishing DOI:10.12691/wjar-2-5-9 Competitiveness of Gum Arabic Marketing System at

Abstract Gum Arabic (GA) subsector in Sudan is largely structured by performance of its marketing systems and prevailing policy intervention. The marketing systems of GA commodity are indicated by the rural traditional, the urban and the auction markets. The commodity has been exposed to different scenarios of policy innervations ranging from monopoly, concession, liberalization and oligopoly measures. The current paper is intended to describe and assess the competence of gum Arabic marketing system at Elobeid Crops Market (ECsM) under the prevailing policy measures. Investigations, in such respect, entail to identify of the active GA stakeholders, market infrastructures, administrative setups, marketing channels, forces of supply and demand, pricing mechanisms and quality control measures. The paper applied a composite of research methodologies including descriptive statistics and policy analysis matrix. The findings revealed that GA producers, as major stakeholders, do not often exist physically at ECsM. The gum Arabic companies do not show up directly at the auction market. Results emphasized varying comparative advantages and competiveness pertaining GA trade at the auction market. Additionally, the oligopoly nature of the market is still predominating despite the adopted liberalization measures. Having understood the nature and complexity of GA local marketing systems in the North Kordofan State, the current paper propose