The Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe - Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, I speak after the Opposition’s wailing. Before local polls, they thundered here that they would win a hundred local bodies—Hon. Nalin Bandara said so. Now they nitpick.

¶ 02 Hon. Mujibur Rahman even resigned his MP seat to run for Mayor of Colombo and now has learned he cannot steer it from outside. Do not be disheartened: remember, we will form the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) administration.

¶ 03 On production sectors: our Government has focused on them. On rice, there were issues; on salt, some are trying to create a mafia—we are breaking it. Claims that all 51,000 metric tons imported were handed to one private company are outright lies. Tell the truth here.

¶ 04 In December, the Salt Producers’ Association asked us for non-iodized salt to keep factories running until their expected March harvest matured. We tendered for 20,000 MT and brought in about 12,000 MT. Maturation in saltern pans needs roughly 45 days. Ten days before cutting, heavy rains hit Hambantota for about 35 days, damaging the crop. Anticipating shortfall, the Industries Ministry in March sought Cabinet approval to import an additional 30,000 MT; procurement is underway and stocks are arriving.

¶ 05 Those saying “go to Puttalam to see salt” should see that much of what is in yards is mud-contaminated salt; it needs to be washed twice. Puttalam’s capacity allows washing about 20 MT per day; Hambantota about 40 MT per day. We have been sending 40 MT/day of packed salt to Sathosa.

¶ 06 Of the 12,000 MT imported via STC, 8,000 MT were issued to Lanka Salt (Hambantota). They paid the applicable duty (about Rs. 40/kg on landed cost) and sold at around Rs. 100 per kg; Sathosa sells 400 g packs at Rs. 120. We will not allow higher retail exploitation. Daily national requirement is roughly 500 MT; monthly about 15,000 MT; annual about 180,000 MT.

¶ 07 Puttalam Salt was privatized in 1998; in 2011, 27% held by the People’s Bank was sold to Raigam. Co-ops hold about 70% and private about 30%; that agreement is nearing conclusion and can be reviewed then.

¶ 08 We have also facilitated non-iodized salt to “karawala” (dried fish) producers—over 1,500 MT through the Fisheries Ministry—because non-iodized is needed for processing. Cabinet also opened the market for about 20 days to allow private importers to bring in additional quantities due to unanticipated rains that damaged Hambantota’s second cut as well.

¶ 09 Our typical annual domestic production target is around 200,000 MT; consumption is near 180,000 MT. Because of the weather-hit, we supplemented via STC and have already 25 private importer containers at port, with National Salt Ltd. shipments arriving tonight. We will resolve the salt issue; the Opposition’s last “lifeline” to attack us ends here.