We consider the SU (3) singular Toda system on a compact surface (Σ, g), where hi are smooth positive functions on Σ, ρi ∈ R+, pm ∈ Σ and αim > −1.We give both existence and non-existence results under some conditions on the parameters ρi and αim. Existence results are obtained using variational methods, which involve a geometric inequality of new type; non-existence results are obtained using blow-up analysis and localized Pohožaev-type identities.and it was shown that if a function u has low energy, then the normalized measure he u must distributionally approach the following set of measures (appeared also in [18])Using variational methods, a compactness result in [3] and a monotonicity argument in [37] it was also shown that, endowing Σ ρ,α with the weak topology of distributions, solutions to (6) (up to a discrete set of ρ's, for compactness reasons) exist provided Σ ρ,α is non-contractible. We notice that the problem is not always solvable, as in the classical case of the teardrop: the sphere with only one singular point. Sufficient and necessary conditions for contractibility were given in [11]. The case of positive singularities was treated in [1] on surfaces with positive genus. There are some other existence results ([2, 33]) which also work for the case of the sphere or of the real projective plane. We also refer to [14] for the derivation of a degree-counting formula.