Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – In a heavy economic blow to the area, unseasonably heavy rains have forced salt producers in Mon State to halt their solar evaporated salt production.
The heavy rains in mid-March damaged almost all salt producing fields in Mon State.
‘Only some large fields can survive’, said salt trader Naing Maung Win. ‘They are preparing to store the remaining salt’.
According to the Meteorology and Hydrology Department in Naypyitaw, rainfall in Changzon on March 6 was 0.72 inches, and in Kyaikkhami 0.32 inches
On December 11, 2010, the rainfall in Moulmein was 4.09 inches, a record high for the past 18 years.
In an ordinary year, the season for salt production extends from January until May before the start of the monsoon season. But this year, salt can be produced only from late January to early April, and salt producers have suffered heavy financial losses.
Naing Tin Aung, a salt producer who owns 30 acres of fields in Panga in Mon State, said that in previous years, he could produce about 5,000 viss (1 viss= 1.6 kg) of salt a year, but this year, the production fell to less than 2,000 viss.
There are 10,000 acres of salt producing fields in Mon State, about 20 percent of the total salt producing fields in Burma.
Townships with a concentration of solar evaporated fields include Thanphyuzayat, Paung, Yay and Thahtone townships. Other salt producing regions are Irrawaddy, Pegu, the Rangoon Region and Arakan State.
