Salt production goes up

It is a proven fact that pragmatic decisions taken by the policy makers at the right time bring desired results. While taking such decisions on matters of economy the interest of the masses must be given priority and not that of any vested group. A pro-people government has to carefully consider what policy would generate better result for the majority of the people. And the government should also be prepared with plan A and plan B to meet a crisis situation. This is an example of good governance.   

We may give the example of the increase in salt production in the country to stress the point. Following a government decision to ban salt import three years ago, local production has gone up to the level of achieving self-sufficiency. Encouraged by the import ban, country’s salt producers increased their production as they also enjoyed fair price in the market. This highly perishable item needs to be marketed in time to avoid loss. Thousands of people involved in the process of producing salt find a steady source of earning a livelihood. But, we have to keep in mind that salt is produced in only six months, from November to May, so if they miss one season for inclement weather or major natural calamity like cyclone, workers have to go hungry for days.     

Despite some negative impacts on health, if consumed in large quantity, salt remains an  essential commodity used for cooking daily food and snacks items. On the other hand, it is also used for various other industrial purposes. Leather tanning consumes tonnes of salt at the initial stage. Fish like hilsha also needs to be preserved in salt.

A special report on the topic published in Bangladesh Post yesterday covered many salient features in detail. It says, according to Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) Bangladesh produced 18.24 lakh tonnes of salt in FY20-21 against a demand of 16.61 lakh tonnes. Last year, the country had a stock of 20 lakh tonnes. On August 1, the national stock fell to 9.57 lakh tonnes-7.51 lakh tonnes at the field level and 2.06 lakh tonnes with the millers. This may be mentioned here that surplus salt can be exported as well. Data shows that Bangladesh exported 2.85 tonnes of salt to Gambia and Switzerland last year.

Going back a little we see that when in FY14-15, 12.82 lakh tonnes of salt was produced locally, about 6 lakh tonnes short of the demand, BSCIC allowed the import of 2 lakh tonnes of salt. Later in FY 16-17 the country imported 5 lakh tonnes of salt when production was 13.64 lakh tonnes against a demand of 15.76 tonnes. The demand for salt for industrial use is around 9.5 lakh metric tonnes a year.  Salt is produced on 60,796 acres of land in various upazilas of Cox's Bazar.

We understand salt traders are allowed to import only industrial grade salt and not table salt. The import duty is quite high for industrial salt, which is 89.32 per cent.  The National Salt Policy 2016 allows import under “special permission” if the annual production fails to meet the local demand for various reasons. But, reports say that corrupt traders imported table salt declaring it as industrial salt. To discourage the practice authorities raised the duty to 100 per cent from the current FY so that the cost of imported salt will be more than salt manufactured locally.

There is hope and confidence around the salt trade as the players feel the country is on way to achieving self-sufficiency in salt production. Good weather and fair price are two important factors to keep the growers happy. If they see profit on a regular basis, they are ready to bring more land under salt production. Surely, this is a neglected sector as it lacks the usual glamour and hype as other sectors enjoy. Therefore, we think the government should take all steps possible to add this commodity permanently to our export basket to earn foreign currency on a yearly basis.