THOOTHUKUDI: The scorching heat is taking a toll on people, but salt producers in the district are not complaining as production has picked up pace. Salt producers say they are witnessing bright sunshine in April for the first time as unseasonal rains affected production in the last three years. However, they are worried that the glut in supply has already pushed the price down.
Thoothukudi small scale salt manufacturers association president Chandra Menon told TNIE that the scorching sun augurs well for both quality and quantity of salt. He expressed hope that they would get better returns provided there is only light shower and no heavy summer rain.
According to salt producers and merchants, a tonne of first quality crystal salt (rock salt) is currently sold for Rs 1500, while the second grade is sold between Rs 1000 to Rs 1300 per tonne. The price was Rs 2000 last year, due to rain-triggered supply constraints, sources said.
The price of Rs 1500 per tonne does not offer any profit, and merely covers input cost, producers said.
With the yield increasing, production is likely to exceed 25 lakh tonne this year, which could further bring down the price.
Besides domestic production, supply from Gujarat is also a matter of concern. Thoothukudi Thanpadu Uppu Yetrumathi Viyabarigal Sangam president MSP Thenraj said the supply from Gujarat has become a challenge in the market.
“Salt producers from Gujarat have convinced many buyers in the southern states, which were under the monopoly of suppliers from Thoothukudi. This has crashed the price”, he said.
Latha Kesavan , a salt producer, said besides stiff competition from Gujarat for the past two years, they are battling labour shortage. To overcome this problem, many salt producers have employed migrant workers, especially from Bihar, on contract basis.
J Ramesh, a salt pan kankani, said migrant workers are used to shift harvested salt from the pans to the stores. They cannot be used for scraping the pan as it takes time to understand the process, he added.