UAE Reports Rising Gold Imports From South Sudan Despite Lack of Data

(JUBA) – South Sudan’s struggling economy, weakened by years of conflict and a steep fall in oil receipts, is increasingly sustained by informal and often illegal trade in natural resources. A new report presented to the United Nations Security Council and published this week explains how the trade in gold and charcoal is enriching neighbouring traders and states, while stripping South Sudan of forests, minerals and institutional capacity.

The report, submitted in July and publicised this week, documents the involvement of South Sudanese security forces in the charcoal trade. It says members of the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces and other state actors have been engaged in charcoal production and in transporting charcoal, frequently using military vehicles to move consignments to Juba where prices are higher. Charcoal is also moved out of the country to Kenya and Uganda through border crossings including Kaya, with documents dated January 2025 recording trucks each loaded with 300 bags.

In February 2025 prices varied widely across locations. In Juba a large sack traded at about SSP 50,000 to SSP 60,000, which converts to roughly USD 7.14 to USD 8.57 at the parallel market rate of USD 1 = SSP 7,000. A sack sold just outside Juba at about SSP 25,000, or about USD 3.57, while in rural areas sacks could be as cheap as SSP 10,000 to SSP 12,000, or about USD 1.43 to USD 1.71. Because charcoal can be produced with very low input costs, the majority of this revenue shows up as profit for those who control production and transport.

The report says charcoal remains the dominant household fuel in South Sudan, including in Juba, but that illegal production is a serious threat to the country’s remaining forest cover.

The panel also points to unregulated gold extraction. As oil exports have fallen, gold has emerged as an alternate source of income and a de facto form of foreign currency. The report finds that the majority of gold mined in South Sudan is smuggled across land borders to Kenya and Uganda, where traders exchange the metal for US dollars and then use those dollars to buy goods to resell in South Sudan. In this way gold functions as an alternative form of foreign currency in a market where the South Sudanese pound is widely rejected outside the country and hard currency is scarce.

Local authorities and the Central Bank have on occasion tried to purchase gold from miners, but foreign traders consistently offer higher payments, often based on parallel exchange rates. Official South Sudan trade statistics are weak, but the United Arab Emirates reported gold imports attributed to South Sudan of USD 20,000,000 in 2022 and USD 27,000,000 in 2023. Converted at the parallel rate of USD 1 = SSP 7,000 these figures equate to approximately SSP 140,000,000,000 and SSP 189,000,000,000 respectively. The panel suggests that significant quantities of South Sudanese gold are likely reclassified afterwards as originating from Kenya or Uganda.

South Sudan’s wider economic collapse underpins this shift to informal resource trade. At independence in 2011 the country produced nearly 350,000 barrels of oil per day, generating more than USD 3,000,000,000 in annual government receipts, or roughly SSP 21,000,000,000,000 at the parallel market rate. By 2018 production had fallen by more than half and the government’s share of revenues had declined to under USD 1,000,000,000 or less than SSP 7,000,000,000,000.

In February 2024 damage to a key pipeline further cut oil exports by an estimated 70 per cent, limiting output to around 45,000 barrels per day. The government continues to export at least one cargo of Nile blend crude each month; each cargo is worth about USD 45,000,000, equivalent to roughly SSP 315,000,000,000 at the parallel rate. The panel also notes that in kind transfers of oil to Sudan, once around 28,000 barrels per day, appear to have been suspended or sharply reduced to about 2,500 barrels per day.

The decline in oil income has had a dramatic effect on the state budget. The government reports collections of roughly SSP 50 billion to SSP 60 billion per month in non oil revenues. At the parallel market rate these sums convert to about USD 7,142,857 to USD 8,571,429 per month. The entire monthly salary budget for both organised forces and civil servants is about SSP 53 billion, which converts to roughly USD 7,571,429. Despite these nominal resources, many civil servants and members of the organised forces have gone without pay for more than a year.

The economic squeeze has pushed many citizens and some members of the armed forces into the informal or illicit economy, accelerating resource depletion and enabling rent seeking and predatory behaviour at checkpoints and markets. The panel reported that ordinary South Sudanese described everyday misappropriation as normal. Traffic police commonly stop motorists and demand payments. Public hospitals sometimes ask for money before treatment. Police may request payment before investigating reported crimes. These practices are eroding trust in the state and its institutions.

The panel describes a deteriorating humanitarian picture. As of December 2024 about 6.3 million people, roughly half the population, faced crisis levels of food insecurity or worse. Seventy six of the country’s 79 counties confronted crisis or higher levels of food insecurity. Nutrition indicators point to a full blown public health emergency. Around 1.71 million people were in emergency level food insecurity while about 41,000 were experiencing catastrophe or famine like conditions.

The report warns that while the shadow markets may provide short term survival opportunities for some households and actors, these trades carry a long term cost. Continued reliance on informal exports of gold and charcoal risks further environmental degradation, deeper poverty and a reinforcement of vested interests that can undermine peace and state rebuilding.

Exchange rate conversions are made for clarity using the parallel market rate of USD 1 = SSP 7,000, which differs from the official Central Bank rate of USD 1 = SSP 4,600.