South Africa’s sugar farmers have welcomed the tariff rise which will help curb a flood of cheap sugar imports – but they have warned that further increases may be needed to stem the flow.
Sugar producers have clamoured all year for an increase in the dollar-based reference price (DBRP) for sugar imports, citing “a flood of heavily subsidised sugar imports”. Imports, they said, had increased 70-fold in four years. As a result, local sugar sales had fallen by 35%.
The DBRP, which underpins import tariffs for sugar, had been stuck at $680 per tonne since 2018. It has now been increased to $785 per tonne.
However, the SA Canegrowers warned in a statement, this “may not go far enough to fully close the gap that has allowed a surge of subsidised imports to displace locally produced sugar from the local market”.
They said they would watch closely to see whether the adjustment translates into a genuine reduction in sugar import volumes.
