Abstract
The South African sugar industry is one of the important clusters of the food and beverage sector – it plays a crucial role in industrialisation efforts and the sustainability of the rural economy. Moreover, this industry is prominent for its self-sufficiency and ability to meet local demand. Despite this, the industry has been plagued by many concerns ranging from shrinking milling capacity to loadshedding. The literature on the sugar industry is limited and often treated as secondary to the overall South African agro-food sector. Research that has studied the sugar industry has treated it in this manner while other studies have applied a mainstream value chain analysis that is limited due to its narrow focus on only firm-level value chain dynamics. This study aims to differ from this approach by employing a contemporary Marxist political economy framework to analyse the sugar industry and its value chain, moving away from traditional mainstream value chain analysis. Highlighting the various segments of the value chain and the historical organisational dynamics that define it, this study made three findings. Finding one is that historical patterns significantly shape the South African sugar industry, granting competitive advantages to long-established firms. Finding two highlights the inequality among sugar growers that manifests itself through systemic disparities between Black and white growers and the presence of petty commodity producers within the industry. The study’s final finding demonstrates the financialisation of food that defines the downstream segment of the sugar value chain, dominated by firms like Illovo and Tongaat Hulett.