Bitter taste for SA sugar industry as imports surge
South African Canegrowers warn that a surge in sugar imports, up over 400% from last year, has reduced local sales by more than 100,000 tons, threatening jobs and growers. They call for stronger trade protection and local purchasing. The Mpumalanga premier stressed the sugar industry’s key economic and employment role.
South African Canegrowers have raised concerns with the sale of sugar locally, which has fallen drastically due to imported sugar. They said it threatens the stability of the industry and jobs in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal.
According to the association, sugar imports for 2025 were already more than 400% higher than 2024 levels, and this has directly led to a drop of more than 100 000 tons of locally produced sugar sold or used by commercial end users.
“This 13% year-on-year drop in sales threatens to decimate the industry, and more needs to be done to halt sugar imports. SA Canegrowers calls on consumers, retailers, and food and drinks manufacturers to commit to buying locally grown sugar, as well as the government to enact stronger trade measures to protect the local industry.
“Even though the year is not yet over, there has been an unprecedented surge in deep-sea sugar imports in 2025. Between January and August 149 099 tons of sugar were imported from countries like Brazil, compared to 35 730 tons during the same period in 2024,” the association said in a statement.
Imports lead to local losses
The association noted that opportunistic importers sell the sugar at prices similar to locally produced sugar, thereby pocketing huge profits at no benefit to consumers.
“This leads to South African sugar being displaced, with foreign sugar taking up retail shelf space or being used by food and beverage producers. For every ton of foreign sugar sold in South Africa, the local industry loses R7 600.
“Considering the drop in local sugar sales in excess of 100 000 tons, this loss equates to more than R760 million to the local sugar industry.”
SA Canegrowers further stated that the 24 000 small-scale and 1 200 large-scale sugarcane growers in South Africa, which livelihoods they represent, and the families and communities they support, are under threat unless something is urgently done to address their concerns of imported sugar.
Sugar industry critical for SA economy
The premier of Mpumalanga, Mandla Ndlovu, said the sugar industry in the province is a critical pillar that should never be allowed to struggle. He called on all stakeholders to join hands and fight all the bottlenecks.
“Mpumalanga province has at least two sugar mills in Malelane and Komatipoort, in the Nkomazi Local Municipality, which provides services to a significant number of small-scale sugar cane growers.
“The sugar mills also play a critical role in the province’s economy through its processing of raw sugarcane into sugar and by-products. The sugar industry is an integral part of the millions of people whose livelihoods are connected to the sugar farming sector,” he said.
Ndlovu committed himself to strengthening collaborations in research and land reforms programmes for sustainability in the sector. “In a province where unemployment is at 34%, the number of jobs created in the value chain of the industry shows the high level of commitment needed to address the socio-economic challenges that Mpumalanga is grappling with,” he said.
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Source : Foodformzansi
