SA Canegrowers seeks to abolish South Africa's sugar tax, blaming it and cheap imports for industry job losses. However, health advocates argue the levy is vital for reducing obesity and preventing thousands of diabetes-related deaths.

SA Canegrowers is urging the government to end the health promotion levy, citing a "surge in subsidised imports of sugar and job losses".

So what do subsidised imports and the health promotion levy have to do with each other?

The Health Promotion Levy (HPL), popularly known as the sugar tax, was implemented in April 2018, taxes only sugar-sweetened beverages with sugar exceeding 4g per 100ml of drink. The tax rate is set at 2.1 cents per gram of sugar content, after the first 4g of the drink.

It applies only to sodas, flavoured waters and energy drinks -- not to the sugar bought in packets used for baking and cooking or beverages made at home, such as tea and coffee, and not to the sugar used for preservation of foods such as jams, canned fruit and jellies, or sweets.

The HPL was introduced to lessen the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, which contribute to the rising tide of diabetes and obesity in South Africa. Evidence showed that the tax initially worked in lessening consumption in poorer households.

Despite planned increases in the tax, lobbying from the industry and sugar producers' interest groups led the government to halt...