May 02
The prices of salt have moved down a bit in Mon State’s salt market.
In early April, salt was priced at a low of K158-185 per viss. The prevailing prices touch a low of K110-130 per viss, showing a small decrease of K35-48 per viss within one month.
Low demand brought down the prices amid the high production of raw salt.
Additionally, the prices of raw salt from Mon State’s sundried salt businesses are dropping, prompting the farmers to stop their businesses.
The current prices are lower than the production cost. So, the farmers are forced to stop the businesses to cover the possible loss. They have stockpiled the salt at warehouses as well, said salt farmers.
The salt harvesting process begins around mid-September in Mon State and raw salt is processed in December and January. High fuel oil prices usually weigh on production and transportation costs.
The traders faced low inventory despite the high price at the end of the salt season.
During the 2021 salt season, salt farmers were battered by losses.
Mon State, the second largest producer in Myanmar, yearly produces 40,000 tonnes of sun-dried salt, beyond magnesium chloride (MgCl2), iodized salt (I2) and table salt (NaCl).
The 2019-2020 statistics of Mon State salt production businesses showed that there are 14 iodine salt processing plants and one factory each for magnesium chloride (MgCl2) and table salt (NaCl) production, with a production capacity of 60 tonnes of magnesium chloride, 204 tonnes of table salt and 12,132 tonnes of iodized salt. — NN/EM