Raw Salt Price Trend and Forecast

Regional Price Overview

Get the latest insights on price movement and trend analysis of Raw salt in different regions across the world (Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa).

Raw Salt Price Trend for the Second Half of 2023

Raw salt observed a largely inclining trend during the second half of the year 2023. In the South Korean market, the end consumer demands saw a sudden surge as the seafood contamination concerns after the release of contaminated water in Fukushima, Japan.

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Salt prices here saw the sharpest spike in September of the last 13 months since August 2022, as the bad weather conditions, including typhoons and cloudy skies, deterred salt production. This also reflects the import dependency of the East Asian nation. In Myanmar, the Min State (Salt Industry Department) produced good amounts of salts in 2023, and because of good quality also fetched good prices in the international market. Overall, an inclined price trajectory was witnessed for raw salt during the given span.

Analyst insight

According to Procurement Resource, the price trend of Raw Salt is estimated to incline amid the growing trade challenges and disruption of major sea routes along with rising concerns regarding various geopolitical issues.

Raw Salt Price Trend for the First Half of 2023

Raw Salt continued its journey uphill even in the first two quarters of 2023. Even though the average salt production saw a good rise this year, still, the demands from consuming food, pharma, and chemicals sectors exceeded expectations.

Obtaining raw salt from seawater in coastal areas is an energy-intensive process; along with this, the labor and power costs have been rising globally because of inflation, which has led to a perpetual rise in production costs. But because salt is such a necessary commodity, the suppliers and consumers have shared the cost load. Along with raising selling prices, the manufacturers have also taken marginal profit cutdowns.

Analyst Insight

According to Procurement Resource, the Raw Salt price trend are likely to fluctuate going forward since the salt companies will try to cap the price hike after a certain point.

Raw Salt Price Trend for the Second Half of 2022

Raw Salt prices surged for the entire period of the second half of the year 2022. Demands from the downstream sectors, especially pharma and chemicals, grew, highlighting the short supply issue in the Raw Salt sector.

In the latter half of the final quarter, an approx. A 9% YOY rise in Raw Salt sales was observed. Inflationary pressure was also a primary reason for heightened prices. This can clearly be deciphered by how major salt corporations observed a dip in operating earnings despite raising the selling price as the operational and processing costs had also gone up.

Analyst Insight

According to Procurement Resource, the Raw Salt price trend will rise even further going forward in 2023 since the demands are on the rise and supplies are short.

For the Second Quarter of 2022

Asia

In India, salt production was majorly affected by heavy rains which delayed the harvest in the largest salt producing state, Gujarat. India is the third largest producer of the commodity after US and China exporting to more than 55 countries in the world.

Europe

As energy prices went up dramatically in Europe following the Russia-Ukraine conflicts, salt processing costs soared leading to a rise in its price.

For the First Quarter of 2022

North America

When supply was limited and demand was high, salt prices rose, as they do with any commodity. Because of the environmental impact of salt damage, several states, such as Oregon, had elected not to utilise rock salt as a deicer for roads and highways. Consumption and expenses, meanwhile, continued to climb. In Alaska DOT price of rock salt was 145 USD/MT.

For the Fourth Quarter of 2021

Asia

Monthly average price in China for Inorganic Sea salt (crude salt) in November was quoted for 420 RMB/MT. This was up from the prior figure of 340 RMB/MT for October 2021.  The retail pricing index for salt in India was around 120 in December 2021. This meant that the RPI for salt had risen by 20% since the base year of 2016.

For First, Second and Third Quarters of 2021

Asia

China's salt output has decreased by an average of 2% year on year since 2014, yet the country has remained the world's top producer of the commodity since 2019. In 2021, India was likely to face a shortage of the commodity due to high rains over the previous two years and the consequences of COVID-19, which significantly hampered salt output in Gujarat.

However, due to the cumulative impacts of heavy rainfall over the past two years and the consequences of COVID-19, which severely hampered the output in Gujarat, a shortage of salt was anticipated in MY 21/22. Furthermore, because of the COVID-19 outbreak, manufacturing was halted, resulting in a 35 % decline in output in 2020 compared to 2019.

Europe

The coronavirus epidemic had little effect on salt extraction output, with manufacturing continuing despite government’s social distancing efforts. Chemical producers are the industry's second-largest market, accounting for around 30% of total sales in 2021-22.

Chemical producers' demand, both organic and inorganic, fell in 2020-21 due to lower downstream demand. In 2021-22, demand from chemical producers was predicted to grow, minimizing revenue declines. As major downstream establishments such as those in the hospitality industry were closed for much of 2020-21, demand from food processors plummeted. By April 2021, lockdown. restrictions reduced, reducing income declines in the current year.

North America

In the United States, vacuum and open pan salt prices were projected to be 215 USD/MT whereas the price of solar salt was roughly 120 USD/MT during the same year. The US is the top importer of low sodium sea salt although this nation has tight and hefty import duties on various goods including low sodium sea salt. This restricted profit margins for significant firms in the nation, so they are relocating their manufacturing base to foreign countries.

For the Year 2020

Asia

Although China's salt output has decreased by an average of 2% YoY since 2014, the nation has remained the world's largest producer of thee commodity since 2019 in comparison to other producing countries. Exports totaled 1.158 MMT in 2020, valued at USD 98,588 million, with South Korea and Japan as the major importers.

Europe

According to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade, the European Union imported USD 637.47k worth of salt, pure sodium chloride, and sea water from India in 2020. In 2020, virtually every country witnessed a reduction in its output; China was the exception, reporting a 1.7 % rise compared to 2019 statistics. In the EU nations, salt extraction dropped by approx. 16 %. In 2020, France was placed 12th with the share in export of 2.26 %.

North America

In 2020, the country imported around 16 MMT of salt for consumption, a modest reduction from the 18.6 MMT imported the previous year. The output in the United States was at about 39 MMT.

Procurement Resource provides latest prices of Raw Salt. Each price database is tied to a user-friendly graphing tool dating back to 2014, which provides a range of functionalities: configuration of price series over user defined time period; comparison of product movements across countries; customisation of price currencies and unit; extraction of price data as excel files to be used offline.