Even though salt production is high in Thoothukudi, the market is far from showing a healthy trend. Not only salt manufacturers but traders and exporters are also feeling the pinch of slump in demand.
A.R.A.S. Dhanabalan, secretary, Tuticorin Small-Scale Salt Manufacturers Association, said last year the total production was only about 55 per cent due to unseasonal rains, but this year, production touched 60 per cent. Since the production season was expected to prolong, it might go up to 80 per cent, he said.
But the uncertainty over price had turned the market unreliable. Manufacturers were unable to wait for a better market price as most traders were shifting to Gujarat to procure salt at a lesser price. The domestic market was also showing a downward trend. Of late, shipments of salt were not going to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and only some quantities were being shipped to Kerala.
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Thoothukudi had earlier established market links with these States and buyers were relying on manufacturers here. “But now, salt from Gujarat has attracted these buyers and we have almost lost our market. Industrial grade salt was also being supplied to the industries here and in Kerala. Lately, these industrialists have started importing salt from other countries citing price factor,” Mr. Dhanabalan told
M.S.A. Peter Jebaraj, president, Gandhi-Irwin Salt Manufacturers’ Association, said consignments of salt were imported thrice from Australia this year.
All attempts to form a consortium comprising salt manufacturers, traders, refiners and exporters to stabilise its market potential and boost exports failed, he said.
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Stock accumulation
M.S.P. Thenraja, president, Tuticorin Salt Traders’ Association, said the growing rate of production resulted in stock accumulation and the situation had triggered a slight decline in price. S.K.S.C.N. Dharmaraj, a manufacturer-cum-merchant and former chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry, said a cluster for salt producers should be formed with the government support so as to have a common laboratory facility to check its quality.
The producers need to be quality-conscious and an exclusive welfare board should be formed to organise programmes on quality awareness and how to tap export potential.
With the advent of the Centre’s ‘Sagarmala’ project, quantities of salt were being hauled to various States in India under ‘coastal shipping mode’, and Thoothukudi manufacturers should tap the potential, he said.
S. Petchimuthu, a salt pan proprietor, said rainfall in October was the only hope for manufacturers to survive in the market. Only if rain started in time, salt production would come to a halt and create a market demand.
Lately, even industrialists have been importing industrial grade salt, citing price factor