Swazi sugar slump hits transporters

MBABANE – Swaziland recorded

the lowest summer rainfall in 35

years from October 2015 through

January 2016, resulting in a 30%

decline in sugar yields. Sugar is

Swaziland’s main export in terms of

revenue.

At one sugar plantation, 3000

hectares of cane will be destroyed

as unusable, and milling operations

throughout the sugar belt have been

delayed. In the remaining harvest,

sucrose quality has declined.

Bulk transport carriers from

Swaziland Railway to road freight

firms that move the sugar to

Durban or Maputo for export

face the same cut-back in work

as seasonal cane harvesters and

others associated with the droughtblighted

industry.