Sugar runs deep in South Africa's soil, and its history is one of resilience, innovation and human endurance. The South African sugar industry grew from colonial ambition and Indian labour into a pillar of KwaZulu-Natal's economy, blending science, struggle and resilience to sweeten the nation's history and culture.
Sugarcane Plantation
Global Origins of Sugar
Sugar cane’s story begins thousands of years before it touched South African soil. While chewing sugar cane for its sweet taste was likely done in prehistory, the first indications of the domestication of sugar cane were around 8000 BCE. Historians trace its origins to India, where it was cultivated as early as 500BCE. From India, sugar spread to Persia and the Arab world, reaching the Mediterranean by the 7th century. European colonisation carried sugar further, first to the Canary Islands, then to the Caribbean and the Americas.
In The History of Sugar, Noel Deerr writes, “Sugar is the most widely traded commodity in the colonial world.” (This was up until the 1970s, when Brent crude oil took over this title). Follow sugar’s historical journey across the world and the advances in technology that allow us to enjoy sugar today.
A Colonial Crop Takes Root in South Africa
The introduction of sugar to South Africa mirrors this global pattern. Early settlers looked to Mauritius and Réunion, islands with established cane industries, to supply both plant material and labour systems. According to Dodds, “European settlers brought cane, machinery and labour systems from Mauritius and Réunion under British colonial expansion.”
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According to Dr HH Dodds, former director of the South African Sugar Association’s Experiment Station and author of Sugar: The Origin and Development of a Primary Industry (SASA, UKZN Gandhi-Luthuli Documentation Centre), “South Africa's sugar story began in 1847 when Durban merchants Milner & Milner imported the first canes from the island of Réunion.”
Dodds mentions in his book that it was a settler named Edmund Morewood who, in 1851, “built the country’s first sugar mill at Compensation, 56km north of Durban, a small wooden factory powered by oxen and hand labour”.
The South African Sugar Industry Today
The South African Sugar Industry is one of the world's leading cost competitive producers of high quality sugar, producing an average of 2.3 million tons of sugar per annum, of which about 76% is marketed within the Southern African Customs Union. It is an industry which combines the agricultural activities of growing sugarcane with the industrial factory production of raw and refined sugar and makes a significant contribution to the national economy.
Direct and indirect employment in the industry is estimated to be 435 000 people (85 000 direct), with cane being grown predominantly in KwaZulu-Natal, from Northern Pondoland in the Eastern Cape to the Mpumalanga Lowveld. Approximately one million people depend on the sugar industry for a living. In the 2019/20 milling season, 19.24 million tons of cane was crushed.
There are six milling companies who make up the South African Sugar Millers' Association NPC (SASMA) and between them they operate 14 sugar mills and one central refinery. The forerunner of SASMA, The Natal Sugar Millers' Association, is the founding father of the Sugar Milling Research Institute NPC.
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The partnership between the growers (South African Cane Growers Association and South African Farmers Development Association), and the millers (SASMA), is administered by the South African Sugar Association (SASA). SASA provides a range of specialist services that enhance the profitability, global competitiveness and sustainability of the South African Sugar Industry. This partnership between growers and millers forms the basis of the industry's structure in South Africa.
SONA 2022 | Sugar cane industry master plan
Key Statistics of the South African Sugar Industry
The following table summarizes key statistics of the South African Sugar Industry:
| Statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| Average Sugar Production per Annum | 2.3 million tons |
| Percentage Marketed within the Southern African Customs Union | 76% |
| Estimated Direct and Indirect Employment | 435,000 people (85,000 direct) |
| Main Growing Region | KwaZulu-Natal |
| People Dependent on the Sugar Industry for a Living | Approximately 1 million |
| Cane Crushed in the 2019/20 Milling Season | 19.24 million tons |
| Number of Milling Companies in SASMA | 6 |
| Number of Sugar Mills Operated by SASMA Members | 14 |
| Number of Central Refineries Operated by SASMA Members | 1 |
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