The state-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), which has so far invested R2.5bn in troubled Tongaat Hulett, has indicated a willingness to plough even more into the company if needed. This was said on Tuesday by the head of the IDC’s agro-processing and agriculture division, Lwandiso Makupula, at a meeting of parliament’s trade, industry & competition committee, which had a dedicated session on the progress made in the implementation of the sugar industry master plan. Makupula said the IDC would continue to invest in Tongaat Hulett if necessary. The IDC and department of trade, industry & competition are opposing the application for the liquidation of Tongaat Hulett by its business rescue practitioners. The high court hearing is scheduled for June 17-18. Makupelo said the IDC was doing everything possible before the court date to render it unnecessary by engaging stakeholders on a solution to save the company, while committee chair Mzwandile Masina warned that there would be a “bloodbath” if the liquidation was allowed to proceed. Everything possible had to be done to save it, he said. The livelihood of thousands of small cane growers would be threatened if Tongaat Hulett were liquidated and its mills were not available to crush their cane. About 16,164 farmers (15,792 small farmers) rely on the company’s sugar mills. The committee heard from presenters about the devastating impact that cheap sugar imports sold at below cost, mainly from Brazil, had had on the industry and the need for adequate import duties. South African Sugar Association (Sasa) CEO Sifiso Mhlaba noted that in the 2025/26 season 1.3-million tonnes of sugar (compared with 1.5-million tonnes in 2023/24) produced in South Africa were sold. Deep-sea imports of 213,322 tonnes came in during the season just completed compared with 25,000 tons in 2023/24. In 2026/27 the association estimates local production at about 1-million tonnes and deep-sea imports at 300,000 tonnes. The annual loss in revenue by millers and growers was about R1.5bn a season, Mhlaba said. Annual industry revenue is about R22.8bn. The association pleaded for better protection against cheap imports.International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) chief commissioner Ayabonga Cawe said the commission’s determination and recommendation on the question of an increase in the dollar-based reference price, which sets a floor price for sugar, was imminent. Sasa applied for an increase in the dollar-based reference price from the present price of $680 set in 2018 to $905. A recommendation would be made to the ministers of trade, industry & competition and finance for a decision, Cawe said.Questioned by DA MP Mlondi Mdluli as to why Itac had taken so long in dealing with the application, Cawe said this was because of the different views of the upstream millers and canegrowers on the one hand and the downstream food and beverage sector on the other, which required engagements. The commission wanted to avoid having two separate investigations. In the end the commission initiated its own review on a dollar-based reference price at the beginning of the year because of the divergence of views. The department has urged that the final decision balances the interests of the two sectors. Cawe said Sasa had also applied for safeguard measures to deal with the sudden influx of cheap sugar imports, particularly from Brazil, which have undermined the profitability of the industry. The application was for import duties higher than the World Trade Organisation bound rate of 105% for three years. He said this application was in the assessment phase. Deputy trade industry & competition minister Zuko Godlimpi said the ministry was seeking legal advice on the upper ceiling that import duties could be raised without a breach of the country’s commitments.