A farmer carries the harvested salt in buckets at Bontomanai Village, South Sulawesi, in 2019. (Photo: Antara) Jakarta (VNA) - The Indonesian government has unveiled its strategies to cut down the dependence on imported salt in an attempt to protect local salt farmers.
According to Indonesian President Joko Widodo, local salt farmers still struggle to meet manufacturing industries' standards, which requires a sodium chloride level of 97 percent, 7 percent higher than the average sodium chloride level at present.
Indonesia needs at least 4 million tonnes of salt a year, but it can only produce only 2 million tonnes annually.
Speaking at a virtual limited meeting on salt absorption on October 5, Widodo stressed that the country’s salt production is still low and this is why it search for the easiest way out by importing salt.
Indonesian Research and Technology Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro revealed the total industrial salt import reaches 2.9 million tonnes per year, with 2.3 million tonnes of which are used for Chlor-alkali plants or glass factories.
Around 540,000 tonnes of imported salt go to the miscellaneous food industry, while the mining and pharmaceutical industries consume the remainder of the imported salt./.
VNA
