Protecting South Africa’s sugar industry from unfair import practices will save rural jobs

SOUTH Africa's sugar industry, which supports over a million livelihoods and underpins the rural economies of KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, is at risk of being undermined by a flood of artificially cheap, subsidised sugar imports.

- HIGGINS MDLULI

These imports are not just distorting the local market - they are jeopardising the survival of small-scale and large sugarcane growers and the thousands of families whose lives depend on them.

SA Canegrowers, which represents 1 200 commercial farmers and 24 000 small-scale growers, has raised the issue with the government, calling for action to raise the import tariff reference price and prevent further damage to an industry already under enormous strain.

It is important to note that cheap imported sugar does not translate to cheaper sugar for retail consumers. Imported sugar ends up on retail shelves at a similar price to locally grown sugar, with inflated profits going to importers of offshore sugar.

South Africa has seen a steady rise in sugar imports over the past year, despite the local sugar industry being able to fully supply the region’s domestic and commercial needs whilst leaving extra to export. In the 2024/25 season, close to 100 000 tons of duty-paid imports sugar entered South Africa, a steep rise from about 25 000 tons in the previous season.

The global sugar market is anything but free or fair. Most major sugar-producing countries protect their growers with extensive subsidies and support mechanisms - sometimes direct, other times hidden in complex support systems. These market distortions allow foreign producers to export sugar at prices far below the actual cost of production.