Cambodia has received a first batch of salt imported from India, after unseasonable rains since the beginning of the year melted away domestic yields below half of the expected nationwide demand for 2022.

Salt production reached around 40,000 tonnes in 2022, compared to more than 75,000 tonnes in 2021, according to the General Department of Small and Medium Enterprises and Handicrafts under the Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation.

The coastal provinces of Kampot and Kep are Cambodia’s primary salt producers, and the harvest season typically lasts from late December to mid-May, or even until June with hotter and drier conditions.

A ministry official who declined to be named confirmed that the 2022 salt harvest season ended in late May, and that annual nationwide demand was currently pegged at 90,000-100,000 tonnes.

Speaking to The Post on August 2 from Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP), top salt industry player Bun Baraing confirmed that the initial batch of “more than 4,000 tonnes” of salt he imported had just arrived at PPAP, and that “workers are preparing to move it into storage, to be ready for sale on the market”.

He attributed this year’s woefully insufficient salt production to climate change, noting that the total area allotted for salt production as well as labour-related indicators have remained relatively unchanged.

The ministry reported that the total area under salt production in Kampot and Kep provinces was 4,748ha in 2021, which yield an average of 20 tonnes per hectare each year with good weather.

Baraing said that the government, prompted by the sharp decline in output, recently issued a policy allowing the private sector to import “about 60,000 tonnes” of salt per annum to avoid crises as a result of shortages of or uncontrollable surges in prices for the commodity.

He shared that, for the foreseeable future, the Kingdom plans to import salt exclusively from India, commenting that their product is “natural” and “as good as the salt produced in Cambodia”.https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/salt-shipment-arrives-output-falls-below-half-2022-demand