Production of sugar from sugar cane in South Africa 2000-2022

The two main crops which sugar is extracted from are sugar cane and sugar beets. As of 2021/2022, the preliminary production of sugar from sugar cane amounted to nearly 1.8 million metric tons. This outlines a drop of 8.7 percent from the preceding year. Furthermore, it can be observed that between 2000 and 2022 the production of sugar from sugarcane had an overall falling trend with various fluctuations. In 2012 and 2017, the volume dropped to 1.95 million and 1.54 million metric tons, respectively. This can be attributed to droughts occurring during these periods. It is also worth noting that due to the decreasing profitability of sugar cane as a crop, farmers have been substituting it for more profitable crops which affected the production quantity.