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Government plans to take over Puttalam Salt Limited as ‘white gold’ gets imported
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By Ishu Bandara
The government plans to take over Puttalam Salt Limited by 2027, following the end of the lease agreement that has been in place since 1997, the Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe told the Sunday Times.
He said as ownership will automatically revert to the state, no new lease agreement will be signed. Instead, it will be managed directly by the government under a proper mechanism, due to concerns that the current management is not operating it effectively,
Despite being a country surrounded by the sea, Sri Lanka is currently experiencing a widespread shortage of salt. Although the annual national requirement is around 180,000 metric tons, a noticeable shortfall had emerged by the end of May, making it increasingly difficult to find salt in supermarkets and local grocery stores, the Sunday Times learns.
When the Sunday Timesinquired about the matter, Minister Samarasinghe said, “There will be no further shortage, as a gazette notification has already been issued allowing the importation of salt without a license until June 10, 2025, to expedite the process. We are also going to announce a standard retail price for salt.”
Many shops in and around Colombo had 'no salt' boards displayed Pix by Eshan Fernando
After the import of salt was gazetted as open to anyone, a total of 4,132 MT were imported from India between May 25 and May 30, 2025. On May 30 alone, 1,092 MT were released by the Sri Lanka Port, indicating a significant increase in the daily quantity of imports. We hope that by June 10, the entire shortfall in the Sri Lankan market can be fulfilled,” said Mr. Samarasinghe.
Mr. Samarasinghe further added, “The importers have obtained approval from the Food Control Unit of the Health Ministry to import around 180,000 to 200,000 MT of salt. Since the process is open to anyone until June 10, 2025, I would like to invite anyone interested to apply to import salt from India.”
The Minister emphasized that the salt shortage was caused by adverse weather conditions, including heavy rain and a lack of sunlight since March. However, the government plans to implement a proper mechanism to prevent such shortages in the future. He also noted that the salt manufacturer failed to deliver on its promises, which contributed to the difficulties faced by the public.
“Puttalam Salt Limited earlier assured us that they had a sufficient amount of salt, and we placed our trust in them. They initially said they could harvest in March, but when that failed, they promised to harvest in May. However, they failed again. Due to bad weather conditions, most of the available salt in the market was purchased by industries, which contributed to the current shortage,” he said.
However, Ranees Badurdeen, President of the Puttalam Welfare Salt Producers’ Society which supplies 30% of the annual market demand said that they had already warned the government in December about the potential for a shortage and had advised it to take necessary steps to import salt. However, the government failed to act, which has now led to these difficulties for the public.
Workers at the saltern in Puttalam Pix by Hiran Priyankara
He further added that the Puttalam District produces around 50% of the country’s salt supply. However, there is no proper government department or local body in Puttalam to which salt producers can report the challenges they face during the manufacturing process. “We have numerous land issues, and the government doesn’t have a proper database to monitor salt production or oversee the process, which has contributed to the worsening of this crisis,” he said.
He further stated that the government should conduct a survey to identify which Sri Lankan companies are performing well in the market and are capable of responsibly handling importation. He emphasized that import certificates should be granted to such companies, rather than focusing only on wealthy individuals or those with political connections who merely support the government or certain politicians.
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