East Java salt farmers suffer as prices plummet

East Java salt farmers suffer as prices plummet

I.D. Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

Thousands of salt farmers in Sampang, Sumenep and Pamekasan
regencies on Madura Island, East Java province, are facing a
crisis due to the falling price of salt, in some cases by 50
percent.

Aside from the poor quality of the commodity, the influx of
imported salt has been blamed for plummeting prices.

Muhammad Toha, a salt farmer in Sumenep, for instance, was
forced to sell his prime quality salt for Rp 100,000 (US$11) per
ton.

Prime quality salt from Madura sold previously at Rp 200,000
to Rp 250,000 per ton, while lower grade salt was Rp 75,000 per
ton.

Farmers have been powerless to negotiate a better price for
their salt.

"If I don't sell it, my family cannot eat," Toha told The
Jakarta Post recently, although it was barely enough to cover
production costs.

Ihsan, a salt farmer in Sampang, is facing the same plight. He
admitted suffering huge losses due to the drastic drop in price
and demand, especially during the harvest period from July to
December.

Toha's and Ihsan's experience is not isolated, and is shared
by 8,000 other salt farmers grouped in the Madura Salt Farmers
Association.

The association took the initiative to uncover the cause
behind the drop, and found that their plight was caused by
imported salt flooding the market on Madura.

"Imported salt was the culprit behind the price drop," Ihsan
said.

In the past two weeks, farmers have come across two salt
freighters anchoring in Tanjung Perak Port, Surabaya.

The first ship was carrying 21,000 tons of salt and the
second, 24,000 tons.

"The two ships, the Kiwi and the Pakerin ... were transporting
salt from Australia," he said.

The activity is in direct violation of the Minister of
Industry and Trade Decree No. 360/2004, which prohibits the
importation of salt during the July-December harvest period.

"But what is happening is that salt is being imported freely,"
said Ihsan.

The imported salt is being handled at a higher standard than
local salt, and it has been reported that the salt onboard are
packaged in plastic bags and stamped Garindo, or Garam Indonesia
(Indonesian salt).

The commodity is taken to warehouses in nearby Margorejo and
Gresik to be sold to markets discreetly.

Madura salt farmers have also blamed PT Garam Kalianget for
its part in contributing to falling prices.

Although a member of the salt producers association, PT Garam
Kalianget had sold their products at lower prices to processing
mills like PT Garinso Sejahtera Abadi and PT Budiono, thus
lowering demand for products from local farmers.

PT Garam Kalianget managing director Leo Pramuka refuted the
allegation, saying the price drop was caused by market mechanisms
that had not sided with farmers.

In other words, salt produced by farmers were simply not in
demand, and the people obviously preferred imported salt, which
was more hygienic.

"What's made matters worse is, farmers' production costs keep
rising while the sale price is low, as there is little demand for
local salt," said Leo.

The trade ministry has stopped the importation of salt in
hopes that local salt would be absorbed by the market gradually.

However, that hope is still far from reality, as salt
continues to penetrate the market unchecked.

"I heard that imported salt had entered (recently) by way of
Tanjung Perak Port. This is strange, because importers must have
an official license (from the government)," Leo said.