The industries ministry has suggested allowing import of over 0.31 million tonnes of crude edible salt to meet its shortage and keep the price of the widely used item stable in the local market.
The ministry has written to the commerce ministry to take necessary steps in this regard, allowing 222 active factories to import such salt, said officials.
Salt production was some 0.21 million tonnes less than the demand in the last fiscal year, the letter mentioned.
The country currently has a stock of over 0.61 million tonnes of salt - over 0.456 million tonnes at the field level and 0.16 million tonnes at the mill level.
The current stock of salt will be able to meet the country's demand for the next two to three months.
In this circumstance, it is required to import necessary salt for meeting the deficit and keeping the salt market stable, according to the industries ministry.
"We think that the commerce ministry should allow salt import this year as there is an insufficient stock of salt in the country," said a high official of the industries ministry.
Asked, an official of the commerce ministry said, "We have received a proposal on import of crude salt."
According to a technical committee on National Salt Policy-2020, the country requires 2.31 million tonnes of crude salt for the current fiscal year. It was 2.21 million tonnes in the fiscal year 2020-21.
As per the technical committee's calculation, around 0.316 million tonnes of crude salt is needed to import against the shortage.
Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) recently sent a list of 222 active salt factories to its parent ministry to take steps in this regard.
The domestic annual demand of salt is over 1.65 million tonnes at present.
Generally, the BSCIC fixes the demand for salt, with a 10 per cent annual growth commensurate with the growing population.
Bangladesh imported 0.25 million tonnes and 0.5 million tonnes of crude salt in 2016 and 2017, respectively, in an attempt to stabilise the local market.
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