Zonal marketing policy leaves bitter taste for TN salt makers
UNDER OLD SCHEME, INDIA WAS DIVIDED
INTO THREE ZONES FOR SELLING PRODUCT AND PRODUCERS FROM ONE ZONE COULD NOT SELL THEIR SALT IN ANOTHER
CHENNAI: Salt manufacturers in Tamil Nadu have urged the Union government to re-implement the zonal marketing scheme for the commodity, which was scrapped in 2015.
The salt manufacturers said that they have been incurring losses ever since the zonal marketing scheme was i mplemented, after which Gujaratbased corporate salt manufacturers have been pushing everyone out of the market.
Under the old scheme, the country was divided into three zones for selling salt. Producers from one zone could not sell their salt in another which ensured that locally produced salt was consumed. However, this was abolished in 2015 to create one national market.
In Tamil Nadu, salt pans exist across over 45,000 acres with an annual production of 30 lakh tonnes and providing employment to about 60,000 people. According to Senthil Vairakkannu, secretary, small and medium scale salt producers association from Vedaranyam of Nagapattinam district, the salt produced by the state was sold as far as West Bengal when the zonal marketing scheme was in place. “It is not the case now,” he says.
“Of the 45,000 acres of salt pans, small and medium scale salt producers own about 30,000 acres. The remaining salt pans are owned by corporate companies like Chemplast Sanmar, GHCL, Sahayamatha salts and so on. However, the corporates are doing good,” Senthil said.
“Tamil Nadu produces 30 lakh tonnes of salt per year. Around five to six lakh tonnes (worth around ₹50 crore) remain unsold in market because we have lost markets in Hyderabad, Bhuvaneshwar and Kolkata. Despite our efforts to reach out, the response we get is that our salt quality is not up to the mark and price is high” he added.
While 45% of the salt goes into the production of edible salts, 40% is used for fertilisers and the remaining 15% is being sold to poultry farms, dyeing and leather industries, he added.
Since Gujarat-based industries like Tata salts, Jaguar salts, Grasim salts are using modern mechanised techniques, their salt is good in quality and preferred in markets, officials familiar with the matter said.
“With the modern mecha- nised techniques, it takes just ₹250 for producing one tonne of salt for Gujarat manufacturers. However, in Tamil Nadu it takes ₹450 for producing the same amount. We still use manpower. Since the production cost is less for Gujarat salt makers, they are selling salt at ₹400 per tonne in the market. But we have to sell it at ₹550 per tonne,” said V Rajendran, another office-bearer of the association.
When asked about the difficulties faced in replacing people with machines, Rajendran said, “Small pans cannot use machines. If a farmer has some 300 acres of the pan, he can use machines. But all these 30,000 acres are being owned by 18,000 people.”
The office bearers also point out they do not have any state support. “Gujarat has a separate ministry for salt, the Tamil Nadu has no department for it, leave alone a ministry. There are nine major ports to export salt in Gujarat. In Tamil Nadu, only Thoothukudi port is used to export salt,” Vairakannu says.
The state’s minister for industries, MC Sampath, said, they were in talks with the Centre to resolve the issue. “We are taking steps to sort out the issue. We are in talks with the union ministry for commerce and industry. We will discuss the issue in the secretariat with our department’s managing director soon,” the minister said.