Sugar imports surge: SASA seeks higher dollar based reference price

The South African Sugar Association (SASA) at a media briefing on Friday in Umhlanga, north of Durban said that they believe sugar imports are a massive stumbling block to the sugar industry with 163,000 tonnes of imported sugar reported from April to December 2025 in the current season.

SASA said that this has led them to apply to the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) to increase the Dollar Based Reference Price (DBRP) from $680 (R10 846)/ton to $905 (R14 435)/ton to protect the local sugar industry.

Kulani Siweya: National Market and Trade Policy Executive at SASA said that this season, which is still in progress, has been marked with high sugar imports.

"This has been noted especially from countries such as Brazil, Thailand, Guatemala as well as India. Imports have reached 163,000 tonnes for the current season. The impact is that for every tonne that lands in South Africa that displaces locally produced sugar at a cost of R7500 to quantify this for the period of April to December the industry has lost R1.3 billion,” he said.

Siweya added that another concern is that this number of 163,000 tonnes is 155 percent more than what we have seen in the previous season. “The season is still ongoing and we are expecting more sugar imports to come through particularly as the protection level is not resolved and remains under ITAC’s review.”

Siweya said that SASA have applied to ITAC regarding the DBRP and applied for an increase.

“The last DBRP review was done in 2018 and essentially what it does is that it sets a benchmark in a dollar-based term for what is a fair price for any product you will be selling if it had to be gauged against world prices. The last was done in 2018 and it was set at $680 (R10 846) at that time however because of the costs that have gone up that number has become outdated essentially meaning that more sugar that is coming below that particular point is displacing us which is our local cane farmers. SASA has made an application to ITAC in October 2024 for that number to be reviewed to $905 (R14 435) and we believe that is a fair value on the benchmark that is being used currently,” he said.

Siweya added that the process is ongoing.

“ITAC has published what they call self-initiated investigation where they will consider SASA’s application they will also consider as a separate application by the Beverage Association of South Africa (“BEVSA”) for a reduction in the current DBRP from $680 (R10 846)/ton to between $552 (R8 804)/ton and $650 (R10 368) we are hopeful a decision will be made soon to offer us protection in the industry from import of sugar,” he said.

Siweya said if the DBRP was increased it would offer us some cushion.

“The benchmark takes into consideration all things like cost drivers mainly and the fair value of $905. Any sugar that is priced below that which is being priced at the world market means  locally produced sugar becomes competitive and sugar being imported will be at an equal base of South African sugar prices and would mean we would have less sugar imports and protection for the local industry,” he said.

Pratish Sharma, a KZN Sugarcane grower, said the impact of imported sugar in South Africa is the displacement of locally produced sugar in our market.

“The displacement of sugar results in lowering of revenue in our industry. This lowering of revenue besides being less money earned also reduces the participants' investment in the industry. We are an industry that is struggling to survive. We can see this through Tongatt Hulett applying for provisional liquidation and Glenhow just coming out of business rescue. We are not protected well enough and we need support. We need support in the way of a good DBRP which will protect our local farmers and local market,” Sharma said.

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