The South African government has announced a hike in import duties on sugar, a move aimed at safeguarding the domestic industry from a surge of cheap imports and ongoing market volatility.
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) increased the customs duty on sugar from 282.85c/kg to 364.68c/kg.
The newly revised tariff is expected to provide much-needed relief to South Africa’s sugar producers. These producers have been under pressure from both rising input costs and aggressive price competition from major sugar-exporting nations.
SA Canegrowers, which represents 24,000 small-scale and 1,200 large-scale sugarcane farmers, has recently highlighted the urgent need to safeguard the local industry from the continued influx of unfairly priced imports.
For an industry already grappling with rising input costs, climate shocks, and regulatory burdens like the Health Promotion Levy (or sugar tax), imported sugar displacing our own production is a direct threat to the livelihoods of growers and the workers, according to SA Canegrowers.
Earlier the association had noted that subsidised sugar imports do not necessarily translate into lower prices for South African consumers. Instead, importers often pocket the difference, selling sugar at prevailing local prices. This practice displaces local production, threatens jobs, and undermines the sustainability of South African growers. Ultimately, consumers end up supporting foreign producers at the expense of local ones.
Click here to read the government Gazette
[…] Source : Chinimandi […]