Empowering South Africa: The sweet impact of choosing local sugar

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For every tonne of imported sugar that enters South Africa, money and jobs in the local economy are lost. It is estimated that every tonne of imported foreign sugar takes away R6,000 that could have been spent buying from farmers in the country. Over R2bn that could be spent on local sugar can be lost to imports a year.

Supporting local communities

Much of the bad news we as South Africans hear, can leave us feeling overwhelmed, but when it comes to job creation, consumers can play a powerful role. Something as simple as buying South African sugar at the local grocery store will become an empowering act and a way to invest money back into the country and rural communities.

After all, the local sugar industry supports one million livelihoods, directly sustains over 24,000 small and 1,200 large-scale growers, and helps sustain the economy in large parts of rural Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal.

For example, Thobeka Zungu, a farm manager at Nkumbuleni Farm in Nkumbuleni in KwaZulu-Natal between Durban (eThekwini) and Pietermaritzburg, says if the farm fails “it would be very difficult for us”. The 30 employees and 211 families they support would lose their livelihoods and annual profit share dividends if imports pushed out local sugar from the market.

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Zungu works in an industry that has faced numerous challenges in recent years including droughts, current dry weather conditions and the Health Promotion Levy (sugar tax). The influx of imported sugar adds a significant hurdle to that mix. In 2017 and 2018, the industry was hit particularly hard by a surge in imports, which were often priced below the cost of local production.

Global sugar market

This situation is exacerbated because sugar industries in other countries receive enormous government subsidies, allowing them to sell their products at artificially low prices on the global market. The world sugar price, therefore, often undercuts local prices, making it difficult for South African producers to compete as they do not face a fair and even playing field despite their extraordinary agricultural skills.

Supporting local sugar is important because cane growing provides income, employment opportunities and adds stability in the rural areas of two provinces, which have elevated levels of unemployment. Keeping rural economies stable benefits the people living in these communities and can help keep families together.

This means a simple act of buying locally produced sugar has far-reaching effects on the safety and viability of rural economies and the ability of families to stay intact. So the next time you're at the grocery store, take a moment to check the packaging and look for the Proudly South African logo or a label that indicates the product is of South African origin.

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Buying local also supports the ongoing transformation of the sugar industry, which has made significant strides in empowering small-scale farmers and paying industry levies, that ensure that small-scale growers earn more for their cane per tonne, than commercial farmers do. This ensures the sustainability of historically disadvantaged operations.

Sugar Industry Masterplan

There is also a need for larger sugar consumers such as retailers and the food, snack and beverage producers to support the local industry. In response to the challenges facing the sugar industry and to ensure its long-term sustainability, the South African government, in partnership with industry stakeholders, developed the Sugar Industry Masterplan, which was signed in 2020 to ensure that 95% of sugar was locally procured from SA or countries in the Southern African Customs Union.

This social compact between growers, millers, the government and the businesses who buy the end product aimed to address the industry's issues while promoting economic transformation and sustainability. The Masterplan, phase one, which ended in April 2023 included agreements to support local sugar production, protect jobs, and ensure the industry's long-term viability.

As the industry continues to navigate a complex landscape, there is a pressing need for a second phase of the Masterplan to be developed and enacted. This new phase should focus on securing the support of retailers, food producers, and beverage manufacturers to prioritise procuring South African sugar.

This would enable the industry to be better positioned to withstand external pressures such as imports, the sugar tax and the current dry weather conditions.

Buying local is more than just a patriotic gesture; it's a powerful way to support our economy and secure the future of industries like sugar, which play a vital role in the livelihoods of millions of South Africans.