ABSTRACT
Merchant capital and commodity markets have existed in northern Kordofan at least since the 18th century. The financial resources of the regional economy are dominated by urban merchant capital, which is well suited to the prevailing mode of petty commodity production. Even urban manufacturing is almost entirely carried out in workshops with hand labor. El-Obeid, the capital of Kordofan region, is the largest wholesale marketing center in the Western Sudan. This is owing to its key position as the gateway to the western regions with respect both to the industrial and service centers around Khartoum and to the country's principal port, located on the Red Sea, Port Sudan. The marketing hinterland of el-Obeid is an area that extends approximately fifty kilometers in an eastward and northward direction from the city and 150-200 kilometers to the south and west. An important way in which economists analyze marketing systems is by evaluating the economic and technical efficiency of market channels.
