Mon State expects to produce approximately 25,000 tonnes during this year’s salt season, U Naing Hu, a salt entrepreneur from Mon State, told The Global New Light of Myanmar

Despite rainfall on 29 and 30 April, weather conditions in the state was good enough for salt production to continue. “It rained on 29 and 30 April, but it is sunny again. We haven’t reached the stage of closing the salt fields yet. We will have to shut them down in May.  As there is high demand closing period approaches, buyers are eager to purchase as much as they can get,” he explained.

Currently, raw salt is fetching around 600 kyats per viss. While this is considered a good price, salt farmers are still monitoring market trends.

“This year, salt prices dipped as low as 400 kyats before rising to 500. Now, before shutting down, buyers want to buy as much as we can supply at 600 kyats. However, it reached between 900 and 1,000 kyats last year, and many are holding onto their stock without selling yet, ” he said.

Mon State typically produces around 40,000 tonnes of salt annually. Although operations in Thanbyuzayat Township are continuing normally, some salt fields have remained inactive, leading to the lower forecast of 25,000 tonnes in the 2025-2026 salt season. As salt fields in both Mon State and Ayeyawady Region are still operational, they need to wait and see about the market trend, he added.

MT/ZN