The government has no plan to import salt ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, as the country now has a stock of around 0.4 million tonnes of the essential item, officials said.
The government imported 0.25 million and 0.5 million tonnes of crude salt in 2016 and 2017 respectively in an attempt to stabilise local market, they said.
The deficit of salt was about 0.35 million tonnes in the last two years.
Some 0.75 million tonnes of crude salt had been imported against the deficit.
So, there is now a sufficient stock of salt in the country to meet its demand during the second largest religious festival of the Muslims, said the officials.
The government can only consider importing salt this season in the event of acute shortage of the item, they said.
During the last season, the country failed to achieve the target of salt production due to unfavorable weather in the salt beds areas in April and May last, according the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC).
After the last salt cultivation season that ended in mid-May, the ministry of industries estimated the deficit at over 0.1 million tonnes.
Contacted, director (promotion and extension) of BSCIC Jiban Kumar Chowdhury said over 1.49 million tonnes of salt were produced in the last season against the target of 1.6 million tonnes.
The BSCIC set a target to produce 1.8 million tonnes of salt in the current season against the domestic demand for 1.65 million tonnes.
The annual demand for salt increases by 10 per cent in line with the growing population, he said.
"The country saw a good yield of salt from November to February last. Judging from the production trend, we hoped that the country will enjoy a bumper salt production. But we missed the production target due to excessive rain in April and May last."
During Eid-ul-Azha, a significant amount of salt will be required for preserving hides and skin of sacrificial animals, a commerce ministry official said.
The committee responsible for monitoring salt production and demand as per the National Salt Policy 2016 will sit soon to discuss necessary strategies for the next salt season beginning in November, he added.
The country produced 1.62 million tonnes of salt in fiscal year 2015-16 and 1.66 million tonnes in 2016-17, BSCIC sources said.
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