Important South African industry under siege

Rising volumes of subsidised sugar imports are threatening South Africa’s sugar industry, putting thousands of jobs and rural livelihoods at risk despite strong public support for buying locally produced sugar.

This is according to SA Canegrowers, which has launched the “Save Our Sugar” campaign to highlight the harm caused by rising sugar imports on rural livelihoods.

They said the campaign has sparked an encouraging national response, with more than 70,000 South Africans having pledged to use only locally produced sugar.

“This groundswell of public support is heartening, and every single consumer’s commitment makes a difference,” said SA Canegrowers chairman Higgins Mdluli.

Even so, Mdluli said the threat still persists. “We are still tracking sugar imports at levels with no precedent in recent history.”

SA Canegrowers’ latest analysis of figures released by SARS reveals that 153,344 tons of heavily subsidised imported sugar entered South Africa between January and September 2025.

For comparison, over the same period in 2020, South Africa imported just 20,924 tons, while the previous highest level of imports was in 2024, at 55,213 tons for the same period.

South Africa’s sugarcane growers produce more than enough sugar to meet local demand, so imports are not required, SA Canegrowers said.

In 2025, two factors combined to create a perfect storm for an industry that supports over a million South African livelihoods.

Major sugar-producing countries subsidise their local production, and at times also subsidise the export of excess sugar to the global market. This leads to heavily distorted prices on the global market.

In addition, South African import tariff regulations were slow to respond to the low world sugar price in 2025, with late adjustments of existing tariffs to offset the low prices of imported sugar.

This tariff delay resulted in unprecedented amounts of foreign sugar flooding into South Africa. However, SA Canegrowers said this sugar is sold to end-consumers in South Africa at prices close to South African sugar.

This gives foreign importers of sugar a healthy profit at the detriment of local growers and millers, meaning that the profits are effectively exported.

Losses exceed R600 million

According to SA Canegrowers, the sharp rise in imports poses a direct threat to the sustainability of South Africa’s sugar sector, the livelihoods it supports, and the economic stability of rural communities.

The country’s 27,000 small-scale and 1,100 large-scale growers cannot endure an uneven playing field indefinitely, they said.

Failure to act will lead to job losses, farm closures, and a weakening of rural economies that have underpinned Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal for generations, they warned.

South African consumers have been pledging to “Save our Sugar” and buy local on the campaign’s website. “Support from every South African is critical,” SA Canegrowers said.

“It is also critical that South African beverage and food producers and retailers commit to sourcing and selling locally produced sugar.”

In 2025, the drop in sales of local sugar has already equated to losses valued at R684 million and counting for the industry.

They warned that a continuation of this dire situation, along with the pressures from rising input costs and the sugar tax, may well result in many small- and large-scale farmers exiting the industry in the coming years.

“We are hopeful that as the campaign unfolds with help of South Africans, Proudly South Africa and government, a crisis can be averted in the local sugar industry,” Mdluli said.

“If it is not, then hundreds of thousands of livelihoods are at risk, which have a negative impact on the country as a whole.”