South African (SA) sugar growers have warned that rural jobs and livelihoods are at risk if the International Trade Administration Commission of SA (ITAC) lowers tariffs on imported sugar.<\/p>\n
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SA Canegrowers said local producers have already suffered significant losses as cheap, heavily subsidised imports flood the market, with R733 million ($44.7\u202fmillion) in revenue lost in 2025 alone. The association cautioned that further tariff reductions could severely damage domestic sugar production and the economies of KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga province, where thousands of small-scale and large-scale growers operate.<\/p>\n
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\u201cShould domestic sugar production collapse, SA faces widespread job losses and heightened poverty,\u201d SA Canegrowers said. More than a million livelihoods are linked to the sugar industry.<\/p>\n
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The growers highlighted flaws in the Dollar-Based Reference Price (DBRP), the mechanism used to set import tariffs. Between January and November 2025, 177 408 tons of duty-paid sugar entered SA, a sharp rise from fewer than 3 000 tons in the same period in 2022.<\/p>\n
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SA Canegrowers said it will participate fully in ITAC\u2019s review, but warned that adopting a lower DBRP, as proposed by BevSA, may benefit importers in the short term while threatening the long-term survival of the local industry.<\/p>\n
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\u201cITAC must take full account of the risks to rural jobs and livelihoods in a country that cannot afford to push more people into poverty,\u201d the association added.<\/p>\n
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