Sugar industry sustains one million livelihoods — but its 65,000 direct jobs face an existential threat

South Africa's sugar industry is concentrated in some of the country's most economically vulnerable regions, where the sector provides the primary source of income for communities across KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga. But the health promotion levy has already stripped roughly 10,000 jobs since 2018, cheap imports are compounding the pressure, and BFAP modelling projects a further 10% decline in direct employment by 2031 if current conditions persist.