Apart from fighting against dumped imports, South Africa’s sugar industry fears that bad weather conditions would be a great challenge for it.
As per the Fairplay movement that began in 2016 to fight trade dumping, “The disastrous floods that swept through the main sugar-producing province, KwaZulu-Natal, social unrest and the financial collapse of Tongaat Hulett are the recent setbacks.”
The country has been hit by daily power cuts in 2023, known as load shedding, imposed by the struggling national power utility, Eskom.
If power cuts continue at high levels, the sugar industry fears of losing more than R700 million.
The sector has suffered since 2018 due to the imposition of a sugar tax, known as a health promotion levy that has been introduced to help reduce sugar intake and obesity, said Fairplay.
“Since its inception, the industry has fought the tax. The levy would increase the price of sugary drinks and has already cost thousands of jobs in the sugar industry and thousands more jobs would lose if it continues,” said the movement.
