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Local salt prices slump because of oversupply of imported salt
Worth his salt: A worker scoops salt into sacks before delivering the sacks to warehouses
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Worth his salt: A worker scoops salt into sacks before delivering the sacks to warehouses.
The local price of salt has been dropping because of an abundance of imported salt that had been entering the country during the peak harvest period from June to September, ignoring the rule that prohibits such imports at that time.
In the peak harvest period of 2015, salt prices fell to Rp 200 per kilogram from the break-even fair price of Rp 500 to Rp 600 per kg. The salt farmers made the situation worse by selling their product despite the low price.
"Along with that, there is an NaCl percentage problem. The government insists that the NaCl percentage in the local salt is less than 90 percent, thus imports are still needed," said a researcher from the Public Coalition for Fishery Justice (KIARA) Abdul Halim in the press conference on Jan. 10.
However, the imports have been decreasing and the ratio between imported salt and the local product was around fifty-fifty. According to 2014 data, there were 2,190 tons of harvested salt and 1,950 tons of imported salt in the country.
According to Suhana, the problem with traditional salt production is that the water is contaminated with mud. "With the modern method, crystal-clear salt could be obtained and the production length can be cut to seven days from the traditional duration of 10 days," he said.
The logistics system should be improved as well, Suhana continued, as the traditional salt farms were located away from the main roads, which complicated the ability of big trucks reaching them. Thus, the farmers transport the salt inefficiently with motorcycles. (ags)
