Food & Beverages
Tsb Sugar has massively increased its capacity with the purchase of the Pongola mill.
• Sugar contributes R1.4-billion to Mpumalanga’s economy.
The dynamics of the South African sugar industry changed somewhat in the course of 2009, with the May ruling of the Competition Tribunal that the sale by Illovo of the Pongola mill to Tsb Sugar could proceed. With the Pongola mill accounting for about 5% of South African sugar supply, and Tsb having previously been responsible for 17%, the Mpumalanga based company is now, in terms of the South African market, on a par with the Big Two: Illovo (22%) and Tongaat Hulett (20%). The addition of the Pongola facility (on the N2 in KwaZulu-Natal) to Tsb’s existing sugar milling capacity at Komati and Malelane in Mpumalanga raises the company’s capacity from 550 000 tons per year to about 700 000 tons per year. The Selati retail sugar brand is one of the most popular in the country.
The Malelane refinery has a capacity of 345 000 tons per annum, with about 80 000 tons being exported every year. In addition to the mill and the refinery, Tsb runs an animal feed factory, Molatek.
About 44 000 hectares in the province is under sugar cane. Commercial farmers account for 27 000 hectares, emerging farmers for 9 500 hectares and Tsb Sugar has 7 800 hectares of its own. The commercial farmers annually produce 2.5 million tons of cane while the emerging farmers produce 750 000 tons.
Approximately 18% of national sugar production originates in Mpumalanga and the industry contributes R1.4-billion to the provincial economy. National production levels fell between 2007 and 2008 on the back of South Africa’s exclusion from preferential trade agreements which the European Union (EU) signed with other countries in the region.
Regional cooperation was the key to the creation of the Maputo Sugar Terminal in Maputo Harbour. The terminal is jointly owned by the sugar associations of South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.
Online resources
South African Cane Growers’ Association: www.sacanegrowers.co.za
South African Sugar Association: www.sugar.org.za
South African Sugar Industry and Sustainable Development: www.sugarindustrydev.co.za
Sugar Milling Research Institute: www.smri.org
