Johannesburg: South Africa’s sugar industry, a sector that sustains over 300,000 livelihoods, is facing one of its gravest crises in decades. Farmers are being squeezed between a surge of low-cost imports flooding local markets and fresh U.S. tariffs that have shut them out of a premium export destination. Industry leaders warn that unless urgent action is taken, the country’s $1.4 billion sugar economy could face irreparable damage.
In KwaDukuza, a coastal hub known for sugarcane fields, farmer Nkosinathi Msweli has already prepared for painful cuts. This season alone, he expects to lay off around 20 workers. “The person that is here in the field maybe has 10 lives that he’s supporting,” he said, highlighting how each job lost cascades into hardship for families and communities. For smaller producers, once considered the backbone of the industry, survival has become increasingly uncertain.
For years, South African sugar producers benefitted from duty-free access to the United States under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), exporting about 24,000 metric tons annually. While modest in volume, this quota offered premium returns that helped balance the books for growers. But Washington’s decision to slap a 30% tariff on South African sugar has stripped away that crucial advantage. The move, part of President Donald Trump’s tariff-driven trade policies, now threatens to choke off one of the industry’s most profitable markets.
At the same time, local markets are being swamped with cheap sugar from heavily subsidized producers abroad, particularly from Eswatini, India, and Brazil. These imports, often priced below production cost, have driven down domestic prices, eroding the ability of South African farmers to compete. Industry experts argue that the combination of tariffs abroad and dumping at home represents a “double whammy” that leaves little room for recovery.
The South African Cane Growers’ Association has warned that the sector’s collapse would reverberate far beyond farms and mills. With an estimated 300,000 jobs directly and indirectly linked to sugar production, rural economies in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga could face widespread unemployment and instability. The sector also contributes significantly to foreign exchange earnings, meaning the financial hit would extend to national trade balances.
Industry leaders are pressing the government to act swiftly. Pratish Sharma, a board member of the Cane Growers’ Association, urged policymakers to accelerate trade talks with the United States and consider emergency measures to protect local farmers from unfair competition. “If we wait too long, it may already be too late,” he cautioned. Farmers, meanwhile, are calling for tariff protections, stricter import controls, and subsidies to stabilize the sector.
The crisis underscores the vulnerability of South Africa’s agriculture to shifting global trade dynamics. Without immediate support, sugar producers warn that the industry, once a pillar of rural development and export earnings, could be reduced to a shadow of its former self.