By George Mwangi

Special to Dow Jones Newswires

South Africa's raw sugar production is expected to fall by 5% in the marketing year to March 2023, the U.S. Agriculture Department said late Tuesday.

Production is expected to fall to 2 million metric tons from 2.1 million tons the prior year, due to a reduction in the quantity of cane delivered to mills, limited crushing capacity as a result of the closure of two sugar mills, and a decline in mills' efficiencies, the USDA said in its South Africa's semi-annual sugar report.

However, sugarcane production is estimated to grow by 7% to 18.4 million tons in the current marketing year, up from 17.2 million tons the prior year, it said.

"This is based on a return to normal weather conditions, an improvement in yields, and industry efforts to increase

production, especially for small-scale farmers," it said.

Domestic sugar consumption will continue its strong growth and will rise by 2% to 1.75 million tons in 2022-23 marketing year, due to population growth and continued improvements in the demand from the local industry, the USDA said.

Sugar exports will increase by 1% to 600,000 tons in 2022-23, from 595,000 tons the prior year, the USDA said.

Write to Barcelona Editors at barcelonaeditors@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 07, 2022 04:52 ET (08:52 GMT)