Mango in Sudan : marketing and export

Sammanfattning: Mango is one of the essential horticultural crops in Sudan. It has economic signifycance being cultivated almost around the year in different parts of the country. It has a regional and international demand due to its palatable and adored taste with great nutritive value. It has a great chance for new markets abroad. The thesis deals with Sudanese mango production and the obstacles facing its marketing abroad. In this study I see that, for example, the portion of Sudanese mango exported to the Saudi market decreased despite its favourable price. The question is: Why? The aim of this study is to illustrate the export of mango, the problems, and to analyze the result to indicate the obstacles. The analysis is based on a theoretical perspective which focuses on marketing strategies for marketing mix. The SWOT-analysis is used to find out the competitiveness of the Sudanese mango fruit in international markets, in terms of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The method used for the study is qualitative. The sources are interviews and documentations, personal interviews with open questions have been an important part of the analysis. The results showed that the strengths of Sudanese mango are due to many factors like: production around the year, lower price in Saudi market compared to other competitors, high quality of crop with great nutritive and healthy value. On the other hand, the basic weaknesses of mango are that it is a highly perishable commodity and lacks in the pre-, and post-harvesting technology, as well as in the marketing channels. As a conclusion, the study shows that the problems of mango marketing occur during the whole process (production, marketing channels, price and foreign market). Besides, there is a poor existing strategy. But the situation will be more positive by doing improvement in all this process and developing the marketing strategy.