A salt farmer carries salt in Waruduwur village, Mundu district, Cirebon regency, West Java, Wednesday (26/7). Farmers are enjoying a high price of salt, reaching Rp 3,000 per kilogram and have expressed that prices do not decrease during harvest session next month.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – There is a scarcity of salt for public consumption in a number of areas in Indonesia. This is a result of this year’s less-than-optimal harvest and because PT Garam’s salt import has been delayed. As a result, the price of salt has rocketed by 300 percent and has disturbed the fish processing industry.
In Jambi, the price of salt has increased by 300 percent, from Rp 90,000 to Rp 280,000 per zak (50 kilograms).
Awaluddin, head of trade at East Tanjung Jabung regency’s Industry and Trade Agency, Jambi province, said the price increase happened within the last month.
The condition has caused restlessness among salted fish producers. In fact, some businesses have temporarily stopped their operations because of the price hike.
The price of salt for household consumption had also increased, said Linda, a dry goods seller in Kasang Market, Jambi. The price had risen from Rp 2,000 per kilogram (kg) in early July to Rp 7,500 per kg last week.
The same condition was found in Karimun, Riau Islands. “The salt reserve in Karimun is only enough for this week,” said Karimun’s trade and industry agency head, M Yosli.
Distributors usually buy salt for around Rp 95,000 per sack. Now, the minimum price is Rp 250,000 per sack. “Distributors have no choice but to increase their selling price,” Yosli said.
Distributors had “hunted” low-cost salt in the production centers of Java, Yosli added, but Java’s stock has dwindled. “I don’t know exactly what has happened. I have only received information that harvest have dwindled because of rain,” he said.
Salt production in 2016 reached only 188,000 tons, far below the 2015 production figure of2.9 million tons.
“Last year, there was a lot of rain. So it was hard to produce salt,” said Nofianti, the manager of CV Jumi Indo, a salt distributor in Karimun.
Salt containing alum
The scarcity of salt has caused restlessness among the fish processing businesses in Kenjeran, Surabaya, East Java. Amid the concern, there has also been a spread of salt mixed with alum (potassium aluminum). The price of this mixed salt is slightly cheaper at Rp 5,000 per kilogram compared to raw salt atRp 7,000 per kilogram. However, the mixed salt makes fish stiff.
Surabaya Health Agency head Febria Rachmanita said the agency was still examining the composition of the alum using a sample that had been collected by representatives of Bulak district. “The public don’t need to worry before the results of the lab test are out,” Febria said.
Head of Lampung’s Kontak Tani Nelayan Andalan (National Outstanding Farmers and Fishermen Association), Kaslan, has asked businesses to be more efficient in using salt. This is because the stock of salt is predicted to return to normal ahead of the large seasonal salt harvest in Java’s northern coastal areas next month.
He hopes that the salt shortage in the regions would not lead to a rash response in the form of a salt import policy, as although Java’s salt farmers are not yet harvesting the mineral, salt can still be obtained from East Nusa Tenggara.
Checking the problem
Vice President Jusuf Kalla, at his office in the Presidential Palace, Jakarta, responded to the salt shortage by saying that he would look into the problem first. If there was a lack of supply, other efforts could be made.
“But we will look at the development first, because it is currently harvest season for salt farmers. Sometimes it’s not the supply that is the problem, but the distribution,” Kalla said.
Regarding the matter of industrial salt, the supply of which is also running low, the government has opened the gates of import. However, Kalla believes that there is a correlation between the scarcity of industrial salt and edible salt. Sometimes, when industrial salt is scarce, the problem spreads to edible salt.
Kalla said it was true that sometimes industries that use industrial salt can turn to using edible salt, as long as the quality of the salt was good. However, he added, this was certainly limited to salted fish producers and the leather industry.
On the other hand, petrochemical industries cannot use edible salt, which does contain a high enough sodium chloride (NaCl) content. On the matter of industrial salt, the vice president recently held a meeting with Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita and Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti. It was decided at the meeting that to start importing industrial salt as soon as possible to enable industries to continue production.
The government plans to import 226,000 tons of edible salt this year to overcome the salt shortage resulting from the decline in last year’s salt production. Phase I of the plan imported 75,000 tons of salt in April 2017.
The government is reviewing its plan to import the remaining 151,000 tons of salt following the alleged manipulation of salt imports by state-owned salt producerPT Garam. According to a Trade Ministry regulation, salt imports must be stopped one to two months before the seasonal salt harvest.Salt farmers have started harvesting salt this month.
