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Now the salt production season is starting. It will take the
middle of next January for the new season's salt to arrive. As a result, there
is no salt in the country to meet the demand for the next two and a half months.
It is feared that the price may increase further in the future. Traders said
that the price of 800/900 taka per sack of salt is now being sold at Tk 1,350.
Open salt without iodine is being sold at Tk 1,500 per bag.
Those concerned said that currently, the farmers do not have any salt stock.
About 48,000 tons of salt are stored with middlemen. And the mill owners have
about 100,000 tons of salt in stock. With these salts, the market demand cannot
be met until the arrival of the new season of salt. According to BCIC, the country
has a monthly demand of about 1.75 lakh tonnes of salt.
President of Bangladesh Salt Mill Owners Association Nurul Kabir said that due to a lack of opportunity to import salt on time to meet the shortage, there has been a crisis in the market. Currently, 90 percent of salt mills are closed due to the crisis of crude salt. In this opportunity, some unscrupulous traders are illegally importing sodium sulfate. They are selling this sodium sulfate in the market as edible salt in packets. Public health is at serious risk. The new season's salt mills will not hit the market before next February. Now open salt prices have increased and are being sold at Tk 1,500 per bag (75 kg).
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