🇸🇿 Eswatini Sugar Industry Eyes Growth 🌱💰
- Revenue Record
Eswatini Sugar recently hit a revenue of E7.7 billion for the 2024/25 season, up from about E7.4 billion previously.
Most of these earnings are being shared with sugarcane growers — roughly 68.1% to growers and 31.9% to sugar millers. - New and Expanded Markets
- They’ve secured export contracts for 16,500 tonnes of sugar to the USA starting September 2025.
- They are also now able to supply sugar to Angola, a market that was previously difficult to access.
- Ongoing sales to the United States and plans to sell more within SADC member states.
- Challenges
- Global sugar prices have dropped significantly (from about 26 cents per pound to 16 cents) which pressures margins.
- Export restrictions / protectionist tendencies in South Africa have been a problem, with local producers urging consumers to favor domestic sugar.
- Sanctions in some export markets pose difficulties.
- Strategic Responses
- To weather the low global prices, Eswatini Sugar is focusing more on markets where there are trade agreements (within Africa, particularly SADC) to lessen exposure to external price shocks.
- They are investing in efficiency, reducing production costs.
- Also, infrastructure improvements: a new bagging facility and warehouse (at Ubombo) are functioning, which will help align product packaging and warehousing to customer/market requirements.
- Contribution to Economy & Employment
- The sugar sector employs more than 16,000 people (about 6% of the national employment), and is a major export earner.
- It remains one of the most important sectors in agriculture and for foreign‐exchange earnings.
