South Africa Sugar Lobby Says Record Imports Put Jobs at Risk

Sugarcane harvesting on a farm near the Kruger National Park in South Africa.

Photographer: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Record sugar imports by South Africa threaten local growers who employ as many as 1 million people, prompting the industry’s lobby to ask consumers to only buy home-grown sweeteners.

About 153,344 tons of “heavily subsidized” sugar entered the country between January and September, almost triple the record set in the same period a year earlier, SA Canegrowers said in a statement on Thursday, citing tax-agency figures.