It is a paradox that Vietnam which has enormous potential for salt has to import it. How to improve salt workers incomes and develop the salt industry is an urgent problem.

Salt at a good price

Salt workers now feel happy about salt being at its best price ever. Salt smashes have constantly reduced in the past few years but this year salt makers have utilised every area to improve productivity.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) estimated that the country’s salt marsheshave so far reached 12,445 ha, 200ha more than 2007.

Tran Xuan Chinh, deputy general director of the Vietnam Salt Corporation explained that salt prices rose due to a lack of supply as production levels only reached 60-70 percent in the central region and 70-80 percent in the north.

Le Xuan, head of the Department of Agro-Forestry Product Processing said that the prices of all agro-forestry and fisheries products have gone up, bringing about a rise in salt prices. The shortage of salt is due to the bad weather in the first months of this year. The first storm also caused great losses to the saltsector in parts of the south-central and Mekong Delta regions.

According to decision 161, by 2010, saltmarshes will reach 14,500ha, including 6,000 ha for industrial salt production with a turnover of 1.5 million tonnes. By 2020, there will be 14,500ha of salt marsh, 8,500ha of which will be for industrial salt production.

Importing salt needs careful consideration

The MARD said that this year Vietnam needs around 1.34 million tonnes of salt, including 530,000 tonnes for daily use, 40,000 for the national reserves and 230,000 tonnes for the chemicals industry. The country is able to produce around 1.1 million tonnes, and has 50,000 tonnes in reserve, therefore the country will be short of more than 200,000 tonnes.

Luong Ngoc Lan, deputy director of Bac Lieu province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said if Vietnam is short of salt the country will have to import it. However, this should be considered carefully.

Mr Lan explained that that price of salt in the past few years has been too low so farmers moved from producing salt to breeding shrimps. Currently, the province has around 200,000 ha of salt marsh, producing around 90-100, 000 tonnes of salt each year, which is enough to supply the Mekong Delta region. A delegation from Japan did a survey in 2001 and realised that mainly the salt in Bac Lieu province was of high quality. Since then, Japan has been importing salt from Bac Lieu. If the country applies advanced technology to its salt production it will be able to supply enough salt for domestic consumption.

However, Mr Chinh said the problem is how to stabilise salt makers’ lives and get them to increase production.

Long-term plans for salt production need to be well in place

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, from now until the end of this year, Vietnam will face a shortage of about 200,000 tonnes of salt and will have to import extra supplies. Many people raised concern over the reduction in salt prices on the domestic market, which has caused difficulties for local salt makers.

However, Mr Chinh said importing salt is just a temporary solution, and that salt makers should not worry about this as import quotas will be adjusted in accordance with market changes.

Mr Xuan said that the import price is always higher than that on the domestic market. In the long term, to ensure an adequate supply of salt for the local market and export to foreign markets, he proposed that provinces actively implement measures following the Prime Minister’s Decision 161/DQ-TTG on zoning and develop the salt sector until 2010, with a vision to 2020.

According Mr Xuan, it is necessary to encourage farmers to produce salt on the long term. If farmers expand their salt marshes without planning, there will be abundant salt supplies and salt prices will drop.

Mr Xuan went on to say that most local farmers in the north produce salt manually as the region is not suitable for industrial salt production. Nevertheless, the technology used by producers in the central and southern regions are on par with other countries around the world. In fact, Vietnamese salt is highly regarded overseas. Vietnam should focus on producing salt to ensure an adequate supply for the domestic market and for industrial production. The export of salt may be feasible from 2015, he added.

Regarding incentive policies to provide assistance for salt makers, Mr Xuan said that at present, the State budget has been spent on upgrading the infrastructure, roads and irrigation networks. In the future, the State will increase its investment in salt production, processing and consumption. In addition, a series of measures will be taken to improve technology, promote salt consumption and change production methods. However, to boost the development of the industry, he said it is important to map out zoning plans and allocate land for salt production and to assist salt makers in updating with new technologies.

Source: VOV