Imported sugar is crushing South Africa’s canegrowers and risking thousands of rural jobs, says re-elected industry chair Higgins Mdluli.

Mdluli, who was re-elected as chairman of SA Canegrowers during the organisation’s annual general meeting in Umhlanga last Wednesday, June 11, raised the alarm over the mounting threat of cheap sugar imports to the local industry.

Speaking the following day, Mdluli warned that increasing volumes of foreign sugar, entering the country at prices below the global market and local production costs, could trigger massive job losses across the sector.

“This not only threatens the viability of farming operations but also places hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk across the entire value chain, from sugarcane fields to milling companies and distribution networks,” he said.

The crisis, he explained, is driven by what he believes are unfair global trade practices, including heavy subsidies granted by foreign governments or the dumping of excess sugar at a loss.

SA Canegrowers represents 24 000 small-scale and 1 200 large-scale growers. For every tonne of imported sugar, local growers lose R6 000 in income. Most of this imported sugar is used in large-scale food and beverage manufacturing and does not reach supermarket shelves.

Mdluli said the impact is particularly devastating in rural communities where sugarcane farming underpins local economies. He added that South Africa already produces enough sugar to meet Southern African Development Community demand, with surplus exported globally.

He called on government, commercial end-users and consumers to stand with local growers.

“We need greater protection from unfair sugar dumping and subsidised cheap imports.”

SA Canegrowers director Pratish Sharma told the Courier that about 50 000 tonnes of sugar is imported every month.

“World market prices are below our cost of production and without the subsidies enjoyed by other producers our industry revenue is in decline and sustainability is under serious threat,” he said.

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