The SA Sugar Association (SASA) plans to diversify into alternative new revenue streams such as aviation fuel and food additives to reduce its focus on the traditional refined sugar it says is under threat from taxes.
Emil von Maltitz
The industry has asked the minister of finance to give it time to diversify before imposing changes to the health promotion levy , known as the “sugar tax”. Trikam said diversification had socioeconomic benefits for communities in sugar areas in KwaZulu-Natal through job creation and opening markets for new black entrants through manufacturing of new products. The sugar industry's annual turnover is more than R18bn, with R10bn coming from the sugar cane value chain and about R8bn from the milling sector.
The introduction of the HPL in April 2018 worsened the situation, with the industry losing revenue of about R1.2bn per season. The industry provides 65,000 direct and 27,.000 indirect jobs. There are more than 20,203 small-scale farmers and 1,309 commercial growers.
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