SOUTH AFRICA · BUSINESS
Key Facts
—The plan: Burn cane waste for electricity, convert processing CO2 into medical and beverage gas, and turn cane into ethanol for petrol blending. Sugar becomes, in Gumede’s words, the cherry on top.
—Why change: Tongaat lost about $36 million last year as cheap Brazilian imports undercut local producers; over 111,000 tons landed in the first three months of the 2026/27 season alone.
—Scale-up, not shrink: Vision Sugar wants to grow the grower base from roughly 17,500 to more than 30,000 farmers and double the ~50,000 jobs tied to the business.
