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Elevating the salt industry to become a key commodity, efforts must be made so that the area of salt and salt production does not decrease every year as it is now. Illustration: ST

Why is it difficult to develop?

According to the Department of Economic Cooperation and Rural Development (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), with the geographical position of the sea stretching along the country, Vietnam is considered a country that can thrive salt industry. This is said to be an important manufacturing industry for the country's economic development. However, because the production faces many difficulties, the production method is mainly manual, and the scale is dispersed by households, leading to low yield and quality of salt. The quality and quantity of salt in industrial salt fields have not met the requirements of the chemical industry, so industrial salt still has to be imported. Because of the limitations in manual production, the lives of salt farmers have low and unstable incomes.

Notably, the area of salt production has been gradually decreasing in recent years (11,009 ha in 2022, the highest area in 2017 is 13,158 ha, in 2018 the area reached 13,074 ha ...), due to income from salt production is low, people have gradually converted inefficient production areas to aquaculture or other occupations, so some salt production areas have been abandoned. There are seventy-three establishments processing refined salt, iodized salt, and clean salt for export in the whole country ... Of which, thirteen salt processing establishments (accounting for 19.7%) have invested in applying scientific advances and technical training, with a capacity of 15,000 - 22,000 tons/year and one facility has invested in two synchronous equipment lines imported from Spain with a capacity of 200,000 tons/year.

From a business perspective, Mr. Ho Xuan Vinh, Director of ABACA Vietnam Co., Ltd. said that salt is an important product in life, an indispensable product in daily life... However, Vietnamese consumers are equating to salt products without knowing the quality of each product. Many salt production enterprises have invested in modern equipment and machinery to offer diverse salt products with many values to bring benefits to consumers. It is difficult for many consumers to find out and choose good quality products.

Assessing the situation of Vietnam's salt industry, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam said that salt products in Vietnam have a lot of potential for development and reach further. Because Vietnam has a strength that the hard-working, industrious, and experienced people in salt production can create many products of sand-dried salt with many healthy minerals. As a result, Vietnam's salt products have conquered fastidious markets such as Japan, the US, Korea, etc., with the number of exports increasing every year. However, there needs to be a connection between ministries, sectors, businesses and people to form a cohesive value chain.

Starting from technological innovation

Promoting the development of the salt industry, the Prime Minister approved the salt industry development plan for the period of 2021-2030, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issued Decision No. 766/QD-BNN-KTHT on the Planning implementation plan of the Government's Decision No. 1325/QD-TTg approving the salt industry development project for the period of 2021-2030. In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is also implementing a pilot project to improve the quality and value chain of Vietnam's salt industry in the 2021-2025 period. The project is implemented in eight provinces, namely Nam Dinh, Thai Binh, Nghe An, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Ben Tre, and Bac Lieu.

“We need to raise the salt industry to become a staple product and make efforts so that the salt area and salt production do not decrease every year. The goal of developing Vietnam's salt industry in 2025-2030 is to be modern and on par with regional countries, on the basis of making the most of regional advantages and diversifying production methods to improve productivity, quality and diversify salt products, satisfy domestic demand for salt, gradually replace imported salt (about 400-600 thousand tons/year) and move towards exporting salt, especially salt for consumption and consumption. food industry”, emphasized Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam.

At the same time, it is necessary to preserve and develop the traditional salt profession, to connect businesses with salt producers to build and develop brands not only in the country but also for export. Accordingly, it is necessary to pay attention to the income of salt farmers today, because the salt profession will disappear if the value of salt products is too low. Next, we need to organize training and application of equipment. technology to the producer. Besides, it is necessary to connect businesses and farmers to consume products stably and not precariously. Promoting communication, and building a forum to share information and experiences in raw material areas. Reaching the goal in the near future, Vietnam will not have to import salt, or even export salt to major markets.

According to Mr. Le Quoc Thanh, Director of the National Center for Agricultural Extension, which is implementing three projects on salt, so far, most of the salted areas are mostly planned by manual method and associated with the local government enterprise. During the implementation of the National Agricultural Extension Center, it was found that, for the salt industry to be more developed, it is necessary to start with technological innovation according to standards, regulations, and product selling prices according to the quality of that technology. There must be realities from technology and improving product value for the salt industry to develop and not fade away over time.

Mr. Ho Xuan Vinh hoped that in the coming time, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development would be the focal point to connect with businesses with salt projects to approach and develop the salt industry, and build a value chain in order to improve the quality of life and stabilize income for farmers, create conditions to promote communication and promote quality and safe products to consumers while protecting coastal areas and water security.

In addition, Mr. Vinh also proposed to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to provide financial policy support, and support businesses to develop and complete regulations and criteria to ensure the quality of salt. At the same time, promoting the brand and creating conditions for loans, and long-term land leases for enterprises to expand production scale.