Philippines: Salt shortage leads to importation

Published 2023년 1월 10일

Tridge summary

The Philippines, a country with vast agricultural land, is facing a crisis as it imports a significant portion of its basic agricultural needs, including rice, sugar, garlic, fish, and salt. The country's heavy reliance on imported fish, purchasing $746 million worth in 2021, is due to the loss of its salt beds, which have been converted into residential and commercial areas. The loss of salt production has led to the country importing at least 850,000 metric tons of salt annually, with only 100,000 metric tons produced locally. Richard Lim, chairman of the Artemis Salt Corporation, has recommended amendments to the ASIN Law and better collaboration between government agencies to promote salt self-sufficiency and reduce importation. The Lower House is also considering a bill to rationalize the salt industry and encourage private sector investment.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

The irony has not been lost on us, that in spite of the Philippines being of agricultural terrain, we import many of our basic agricultural needs, betraying perhaps decades of benign neglect mainly by government and private greed. The nation, one of the world’s largest importers of rice, buys three million tons of rice from overseas every year. According to the United Nations trade data, we imported $451 million worth of sugar in 2021. And much of our garlic. Fish has long been the Filipinos’ main source of protein consuming an annual 40 kilograms percapita yet we imported $746 million of fish in 2021. Salt, a basic commodity, is a dying local industry in the Philippines and for which the country is forced to spend our precious dollars to import to supply 80-90% of our needs. The country imports at least 850,000 metric tons of salt from mainly Australia and China every year. This was revealed by industrialist Richard Lim, chairman of the Artemis Salt Corporation, one of the two ...

Source: Mb