Sugar imports into South Africa nearly doubled in the first five months of 2026 compared with the same period last year, prompting SA Canegrowers to call on the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) to finalise changes to the country's sugar tariff mechanism.
Source: ©Eric Isselee via
123RFAccording to SA Canegrowers, Sars data shows that 94,984 tonnes of sugar were imported between January and May 2026, compared with 55,213 tonnes during the same period in 2025. In 2022, imports for the first five months of the year totalled 1,491 tonnes.
The organisation says rising imports are displacing locally produced sugar, with figures from the South African Sugar Association showing local sales of 255,015 tonnes between 1 April and 30 June 2026 — more than 45,000 tonnes lower than during the same period last year.
Before changes to the tariff framework, local sales for the same period reached 428,422 tonnes, according to the industry body.
“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,” said Higgins Mdluli, chairman of SA Canegrowers. “The scale of what we are seeing now is nothing short of a crisis.”
Industry calls for tariff update
The International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) is assessing whether South Africa's sugar tariffs remain at the appropriate level following an application submitted by the industry more than 18 months ago.
SA Canegrowers says most imported sugar comes from countries including Brazil, India and Thailand, where producers benefit from government support and integrated ethanol industries that enable sugar to be sold on international markets at lower prices.
The organisation argues that consumers do not benefit from the increase in imports because imported sugar is sold locally at prices similar to domestically produced sugar.
Under South Africa's sugar industry agreement, sugar that is not sold locally must be exported, exposing producers to lower prices on international markets.
SA Canegrowers says this has contributed to a projected sugarcane price of about R6,600 per tonne, more than 10% lower than last year.
“Every week of delay in adjusting the dollar-based reference price costs the industry hundreds of millions of rands 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,” said Mdluli.
“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.”
