Antara News·Indonesia·Thursday, October 29, 2026 at 09:50 AM UTC

Indonesia boosts salt production volume, quality for self-sufficiency

Translate

Moch Mardiansyah, Raka Adji

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Sakti Wahyu Trenggono has emphasized that Indonesia’s push for salt self-sufficiency by 2027 is focusing not only on boosting production volumes but also on meeting quality standards.

"Many people cultivate or farm salt in various regions. However, the quality remains inconsistent and lacks standardisation, whereas industries require salt with higher specifications," Trenggono said in Jakarta on Thursday.

He noted that national demand for salt currently reaches 4.5 to 5 million metric tons per year, while average domestic production ranges between 1 million and 2 million metric tons annually.

This gap forces Indonesia to import around 2.5 million to 3 million metric tons of salt per year, primarily to meet the needs of industries that require high-grade salt.

In terms of quality, most salt produced by local farmers has a sodium chloride (NaCl) content of around 94 percent. In contrast, several industrial sectors require a minimum NaCl content of 97 percent.

Therefore, Trenggono said boosting production must go hand in hand with quality improvements so domestic salt can meet industrial specifications.

To support the salt self-sufficiency push, the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries is developing the National Salt Industry Hub (K-SIGN) in Rote Ndao District, East Nusa Tenggara.

The area is being developed with technological support to boost productivity and yield salt with more measurable quality. Productivity is projected to reach 200 metric tons per hectare per year.

Trenggono said trial salt production in the area demonstrated quality capable of meeting industrial requirements with higher purity standards, including a minimum NaCl content of 97 percent.

"From the trials we conducted, the quality of the salt is on par with that of Australia," he said.

The K-SIGN construction is being carried out in phases. The first phase, covering 616 hectares, has been completed and is ready to enter the production phase. Meanwhile, the second phase, spanning 751 hectares, remains under development.

View the original on Antara News →

KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.