Salt farmers in Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State, say they have no salt despite the recent record price of 500 kyats per viss of sun-dried salt.

The price of sun-dried salt in Mon State used to be as high as 380 kyats to 400 kyats per viss, but after the Thingyan festival in April this year, the price of sun-dried salt has reached 500 kyats per viss, according to a salt farmer in Thanbyuzayat Township.

He continued, “This year, the rain poured down from the second week of April have destroyed all the salt fields. In addition, the sun is not shining well, so the salt farmers have had to close their sun-dried salt operations in the second week of April. It is also known that salt farmers do not have much salt left.”

However, he added that the price of salt is rising due to high demand in the salt market.

A salt farmer from Panga Village, Thanbyuzayat Township, said that the main reason for the lack of salt from salt farmers is the shortage of labourers.

He continued, “This year, when the salt first produced in January, the price of one viss of coarse salt was only 150 kyats. But when the salt began to make sun-dried in February, when the salt was already available, the problem arose because of the labour problem. There are no labourers to carry the coarse salt. This happens in most fields. Some fields with a strong labour force can produce salt. Most fields have no workers, so they just sit and watch the salt. If workers from other fields come to carry it, they get a little salt.”

“In March, the fields also produced salt. But there were no workers to transport it to the salt warehouses, so they did not store salt. The price of raw salt increased gradually, reaching 250 kyats and 260 kyats per viss. As the demand for raw salt increased in the market and the number of buyers increased, the farmers did not have any labourers and could not get salt. So, towards the end of March, the price of raw salt reached 300 kyats per viss. This is the raw salt that is produced. But there are no workers to transport salt. They do not get salt. That is one of the reasons for the price increase,” he said.

Another reason for the lack of salt in the hand of salt farmers is that the heavy rains that began on the night of April 11 have flooded all the salt fields and destroyed them. Due to these conditions, the price of raw salt has become unstable and has recently risen to 500 kyats per viss, the farmer said.

Salt from the salt fields has to be carried to the embankment by the labourers, so if there are no labourers, salt farmers will not have much salt and the price of salt will not fall again, according to the salt farmers.

Salt is produced in Panga Village in Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State, as well as in Kyaikkame, Satse and Wekalaung Village. In addition, there are salt production in Ye Township and Paung Township.