South Africa’s sugar industry is calling for an urgent overhaul of the country’s sugar import tariff system after imports nearly doubled during the first five months of 2026.
According to SA Canegrowers, South Africa imported almost 95 000 tonnes of sugar between January and May 2026, compared with just over 55 000 tonnes during the same period last year. The organisation says the surge is displacing locally produced sugar from the domestic market and weakening an industry that supports more than one million livelihoods.
“This surge of imported refined sugar is displacing locally grown and produced sugar from the South African market,” said SA Canegrowers chairperson Higgins Mdluli.
Mdluli warned that the industry is paying a heavy price as imported sugar continues to replace locally produced sugar on supermarket shelves.
“Every tonne of locally produced sugar displaced by an import is a direct hit to a grower’s income, a mill’s viability and a rural community’s stability. The scale of what we are seeing now is nothing short of a crisis,” he said.
Small-scale growers under pressure
The impact is expected to be felt the most by small-scale sugarcane growers, many of whom operate on thin profit margins and rely on consistent demand from local sugar mills.
The sugar industry supports thousands of small-scale sugarcane farmers, harvesting contractors, transport operators, agricultural suppliers, machinery repair businesses and local retailers operating in sugar-producing communities across KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.
When mills process less locally grown cane because imported sugar replaces domestic production, these businesses experience reduced demand for their goods and services, affecting employment and income throughout the value chain.
Industry estimates suggest the sugar sector supports more than one million livelihoods across South Africa, making it a critical economic driver in many rural communities.
Rural economies depend on the sugar industry
Mdluli said the industry’s importance extends far beyond sugar production.
“South Africa’s sugar industry supports more than one million livelihoods, most of them in rural KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, where sugarcane farming is often the only source of stable income and economic activity for entire communities. Allowing it to be hollowed out by unfair imports, for want of an administrative tariff adjustment, would be unconscionable,” Mdluli said.
The industry says protecting domestic production is not only about farmers, but also about preserving jobs, sustaining rural businesses and maintaining economic activity in communities that rely heavily on sugar.
Industry awaits tariff review
SA Canegrowers has called on the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) to conclude its review of the country’s sugar tariff mechanism, arguing that the current formula no longer responds quickly enough to changing global market conditions.
According to Mdluli, delays in adjusting the tariff have allowed imported sugar to enter the country at prices local producers struggle to compete with.
“Every week of delay in adjusting the dollar-based reference price costs the industry hundreds of millions of rand in displaced sales. We are not asking for special treatment. We are asking for the existing tariff mechanism to be implemented correctly to reflect a level playing field,” he said.
The organisation believes a more responsive tariff system would help shield South African growers from unfairly priced imports while ensuring the long-term sustainability of one of the country’s largest agricultural industries.
