Vietnam will need about 1.5 million tonnes of table salt and salt for agricultural industrial production, according to the Department of Processing and Trade for Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Products and Salt Production.

Stocks of salt of both kinds are currently registered at 1.2 million tonnes, Thoi Bao Kinh Te Vietnam (Vietnam Economic Times) quoted the source as saying.

The expected shortage this year will mostly be high-quality refined salt used for industrial production.

Despite a long coastline and high potential for salt production, Vietnam usually has a surplus of crude salt due to a lack of facilities, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.-VNA