Times Of Swaziland: SA’S SUGAR HARMONISING PLAN WITH ESWATINI

SA’S SUGAR HARMONISING PLAN WITH ESWATINI
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Ashmond Nzima on 31/07/2020 09:40:00


MBABANE – It seems there is no reason to be worried despite claims that South
Africa is faced with a shrinking sugar market because of cheaper supplies from
Eswatini.
South Africa’s share of the Southern African Customs Union’s local market is
said to have shrunk from 1.6 million tonnes to 1.2 million tonnes, the lowest
levels since 1983. South Africa’s Chief Director of Agro-Processing at the
Department of Trade and Industry, Ncumisa Mcata-Mhlauli, said the department
developed a master plan to enable growth in the sugar industry, as the crisis in
the industry threatened thousands of jobs.
South Africa’s Ministry of Trade and Industry Ebrahim Patel’s sectoral
advisor Harald Harvey said seven steps in the stabilisation strategy - the Sugar
Master Plan - sought to make room in the market for the consumption of locally
produced sugar while harmonising with other producers in the region like in
Eswatini. “The first step of our stabilisation is restoring local demand and
addressing cheap imports. Within the first year, we hope to get 80 per cent of
all of the country’s sugar requirements sourced locally with a view of working
it up to 95 per cent in three years,” said Harvey. According to Fin24, Harvey
said 80 per cent of sugar farmers in the local sugar industry were small scale
and needed to be kept active and set up for a sustainable future.
Diversify
He said transformation of the sector and assisting small scale farmers to
diversify into functions such as biofuels and plastics were also a priority.
When he tabled his budget vote last week, Patel said the Covid-19 pandemic made
the Department of Trade and Industry’s transformation policies even more
urgent, as smaller and newer businesses needed to be positioned to benefit from
South Africa’s economic recovery after the pandemic.
Export
Eswatini is a major sugar producer on the continent. Sugar is the country’s
main export commodity, and Eswatini is the fourth largest sugar producer in
Africa and the 25th largest producer in the world. Sugar production accounts for
over half of Eswatini’s agricultural output and contributes immensely to the
country’s gross domestic product. Worth mentioning is that the positive trade
balance amounting to E3.9 billion in 2019, is explained by a 16.2 per cent rise
in export receipts, largely dominated by the country’s export of soft drink
concentrates, followed by sugar exports. On average, 67 per cent of the
country’s exports are destined to the South African market.