The decree of the Russian government on banning salt (including table and denatured salt) from being imported to Russia from countries that have imposed sanctions against the country has come into force.
The decree affects 26 countries with salt imports of 424,300 tonnes as of August 2016, or 40.2% from the total volume of deliveries, TASS reports.
At the same time, Russian producers promise to increase salt production and completely substitute its imports without boosting the process. Almost all the participants of the domestic salt market point out that Russia has huge reserves of salt and can completely substitute imports.
For example, the largest salt producer in Russia - Russol has already reported about increasing production volume in 2016 by 15%. "The company is able to completely substitute the entire volume of imports to Russia, and further ensure exports of salt, if we develop our export potential," the company’s Commercial Director Alexey Bulychev said. Other large companies have also talked about salt imports substitution.
Russia's need for dietary salt is about 1.3 mln tonnes per year, in technical salt - around 4 mln tonnes. Each year, the country produces 3.6 mln tonnes of salt, while Russian companies could potentially increase the output to 6.1 mln tonnes per year.
