The salt industry has been facing crisis due to the sharp fall in price of industrial salt.
Though the production of salt, which was affected during the last month due to Laila cyclone, had been going on well except in delta districts due to showers, the fall of salt price had dampened the spirit of the salt producers.
According to industry sources, the price of a tonne of industrial salt which was sold at around Rs.1000 till a few months ago, had come down to Rs.600 per tonne.
It was said that the surplus of industrial salt from Gujarat, which produces about 80 percent of the salt in the country, was the main reason for the downfall of salt industry in the State, which was producing around 14 percent of country's salt need.
Forced to net loss
“The present trend of salt prices will not give profit to the salt producers. The price has come down drastically at a time when all overhead costs have gone up dramatically in the recently past. If the trend continues for a few months, the industry will be forced to net loss,” said S. Venkat Krishnan, salt producer of Ramanathapuram.
Industry sources added that 70,000 tonnes of industrial salt manufactured by the Tamil Nadu Salt Corporation had been stocked in the depots in different areas due to the low price of salt.
The salt produced by private players had also been stocked along the shores from Vedaranyam to Kanyakumari.
They demanded that the State government should take steps to analyse the problems faced by the salt industry to boost the sale of salt.
