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.