Salt prices climb again to K300 per viss

The prices of salt rise again in the domestic market, salt farmers from Mon State reported.
In early June, the salt prices moved in the range of K224-250 per viss (a viss equals 1.6 kilogrammes) depending on quality, whereas the salt prices increased to K273-300 per viss in the last week of June.
The torrential rain in late 2021 and early 2022 damaged the salt yard in Mon State, resulting in a salt shortage.
The salt farmers are expecting a higher price than the current market rate.
Salt price is expected to stay upward in the rainy season.
Normally, the salt price goes up in early May owing to the suspension of salt production. This year, the prices reached a peak of K340 per viss.
The prices of raw salt were worth K80-110 per viss in the early salt season (January) 2022, whereas it fetched only K60-80 per viss in the corresponding period of 2021.
The erratic weather wreaked havoc on the salt farms and harmed the production last year. The corn traders faced low inventory despite the high price in the production season.
Additionally, the fuel oil price is exorbitantly high amid the political changes, causing the transportation rate and input cost to significantly rise. This being so, during the 2021 salt season, salt farmers were battered by losses.
Mon State, the second-largest salt 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/GNLM