South Africa’s sugar industry and the country’s beverage makers are at odds over import tariffs for sugar. Sugar producers want higher tariffs, while the beverage industry wants them lowered.
The Sunday Times reports that the sugar industry, concerned about dumped sugar import from countries such as Brazil and India, wants import tariffs raised from $680 (about R11 650) a tonne to $905 per tonne. The sugar industry says dumping causes regional losses of up to R2bn a year.
Beverage makers, represented by BevSA, use sugar in various beverages, including soft drinks. They want the tariff reduced to $400 per tonne.
The tariff dispute is causing tensions that could undermine progress on South Africa’s sugar master plan, the newspaper said. Phase two of the master plan was due to be signed at the end of this month.
Thomas Funke, CEO of the South African Canegrowers Association, told Business Times that BevSA’s application would damage the local industry and put an estimated 300,000 jobs at risk in regions such as KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.
“The short-term destruction of the local sugar industry because of temporary global price distortions serves absolutely no-one — not producers, not workers, and not even BevSA’s members,” he said. “The current low world sugar price is an artificial moment driven by heavy subsidisation and dumping from major exporting countries.”
South Africa’s trade regulator, ITAC, has confirmed it has received tariff applications from both the sugar association and from beverage producers. While the government suggested both parties had agreed to withdraw their applications, Funke denied that the sugar industry had committed to doing so.
