Industry body SA Canegrowers says an unprecedented surge in imported sugar is leading to drastically lower sales of locally produced sugar.

The organisation believes not enough is being done to protect local jobs in rural KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga as a result of heavily subsidised imported sugar.

Sugar imports in the year-to-date are already 400% higher compared with the same months of 2024, which has directly led to 13% lower sales year-on-year of locally produced sugar, or a 100 000 t drop of locally produced sugar sold or used by commercial end-users.

Between January and August, 149 099 t of sugar was imported from countries such as Brazil, compared with 35 730 t of sugar imports in the same months of last year.

Sugar imports threaten to decimate the industry and more needs to be done to halt sugar imports, SA Canegrowers states. It calls on consumers, retailers and food and beverage manufacturers to commit to buying locally grown sugar.

SA Canegrowers also implores government to enact stronger trade measures to protect the local sugar industry. Despite South Africa’s import tariff having been adjusted to reflect the realities of a distorted global sugar market, heavily subsidized sugar has still been flooding the market.

The organisation believes it will also help if government scraps the sugar tax, which remains unsubstantiated by evidence and has led to lower sugar plantings.

SA Canegrowers says Brazil and India subsidise their sugar industry as well as the export thereof, resulted in prices that do not reflect true production value. Opportunistic exporters bring this sugar into South Africa and sell it at prices similar to locally produced sugar, thereby pocketing huge profits at no benefits to consumers.

For every ton of foreign sugar sold in South Africa, the local industry loses R7 600. Considering the drop in local sugar sales this year of 100 000 t, it equates to a loss of more than R760-million to the local sugar industry.

SA Canegrowers urges consumers to look for phrases on packaging that clearly indicate the sugar was grown or produced in South Africa.

Sugar that is merely “packed” in South Africa or indicates other countries of origin are threatening the livelihoods of 24 000 small-scale and 1 200 large scale sugarcane growers that SA Canegrowers represents, it warns.