The SA Canegrowers Association is encouraged that the Trade and Industry Portfolio Committee today agreed on the scale of the crisis in the sugar industry.

Newly elected SA Canegrowers Chairman, Rex Talmage has welcomed the appointment of new government ministers to the critical departments of Trade and Industry and Agriculture and Rural Development saying the change in leadership offered the hope of a rescue plan for an "industry on its knees".

The Citrus Grower Association of Southern Africa (CGA) strongly condemns the wave of looting and arson that swept across KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng last week.

SA Canegrowers welcomes the announcement by Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel that R85 million in relief funding will be provided to 192 canegrowers affected by the looting and violence that broke out across KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng in July.

The South African government had been expected to hike up the Health Promotion Levy on Sugary Beverages last month: but decided instead to keep it at its current rate for the next two years. That’s welcome news to the country’s sugar industry, which had campaigned tirelessly against the ‘job-killing’ increase.