For the previous three a long time, Vipan Kumar has been importing Himalayan pink salt from Pakistan to promote in India.
Nonetheless, New Delhi banned the import of all Pakistani items, together with these routed by third nations, after the killing of 26 individuals, principally Indian vacationers, in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir in April. Kumar, the 50-year-old dealer primarily based in Amritsar in Punjab, the religious hub of Sikhs in India, informed Al Jazeera that the ban has introduced his enterprise to a screeching halt.
Kumar says he usually bought 2,000 to 2,500 tonnes of pink salt each quarter. “The revenue margin may be very skinny, however nonetheless, the enterprise is possible due to the majority gross sales. However the ban has utterly halted the pink salt enterprise. We don’t know when the state of affairs would flip regular,” he informed Al Jazeera.
Himalayan pink salt has a pinkish tint as a consequence of a hint of minerals, together with iron, and is utilized in cooking, ornamental lamps and spa therapies. Hindus additionally favor to make use of this salt throughout their spiritual fasts as it’s a non-marine salt.
Mined in Pakistan
The Himalayan pink salt is mined on the Khewra Salt Mine within the Punjab province of Pakistan, the second-largest salt mine on the earth after the Sifto Salt Mine in Ontario, Canada. Khewra is situated about 250km (155 miles) from the town of Lahore, which additionally at instances lends its identify to the pink salt – Lahori namak, which is Hindi for salt.
The salt mine comprises about 82 million metric tonnes of salt, and 0.36 million metric tonnes are extracted yearly. About 70 p.c of the salt is used for industrial functions, and the remainder is for edible use.
“The mine may be very scenic and attracts a number of thousand vacationers yearly,” Fahad Ali, a journalist who lives near the mine, informed Al Jazeera.
It has roughly 30 salt processing items, the place the large rock salt boulders are hand-mined and loaded on vehicles earlier than being dispatched, he mentioned.
The salt is exported in a uncooked type to India, the place importers course of, grind and pack it on the market.
Costs swell
India principally relies on Pakistan for this pink salt.
However after the Pahalgam killings, India introduced an finish to all commerce with Pakistan, which reciprocated the ban. The halt in commerce was certainly one of a collection of diplomatic and financial tit-for-tat measures the neighbours took in opposition to one another earlier than an intense four-day trade of missiles and drones, which took the 2 nations to the cusp of a full-fledged conflict.
On Could 10, they stepped again from the brink, agreeing to a truce. Nonetheless, the commerce ban stays in place.
Salt merchants in India informed Al Jazeera that the present pause in imports has began to hamper their enterprise as costs are beginning to rise.
“It has been barely over a month for the reason that announcement of the ban, and costs have already gone up,” mentioned Gurveen Singh, an Amritsar-based dealer, who blamed merchants with current shares for promoting them at increased costs.
“The salt, which was bought within the retail marketplace for 45 rupees to 50 rupees per kilogramme [$0.53 to $0.58] earlier than the ban is now being bought for a minimum of 60 rupees per kilogramme [$0.70],” Singh mentioned.
In some locations, the worth is even increased. In Kolkata this week, pink salt was being bought in markets for between 70 and 80 rupees per kg [$0.82 to $0.93].
“We don’t know when the state of affairs would return to regular. There can be full disaster as soon as the shares get exhausted,” he mentioned.
The charges, nonetheless, go up much more on the opposite aspect of India, within the east, as a consequence of the price of transporting the salt from Amritsar.
Merchants in Kolkata informed Al Jazeera that the costs of the salt have gone up by 15-20 p.c within the metropolis, however that has not but hampered demand.
“The Himalayan rock salt stays in large demand throughout the 12 months, particularly throughout festivals when individuals stay on quick and like the pink salt over the marine salt that’s produced in India,” mentioned Sanjay Agarwal, a supervisor in a personal agency that offers in pink salt.
Dinobondhu Mukherjee, a salt dealer in Kolkata, mentioned that the federal government ought to search for an alternate nation to obtain this salt. “The relations between the 2 nations are normally strained, and that impacts the commerce. Our authorities ought to search for various nations to obtain the salt in order that the availability chain is rarely disrupted,” Mukherjee informed Al Jazeera.
Pakistani exporters, nonetheless, mentioned that the Indian ban would have a “constructive influence” on their commerce. Indian merchants, they mentioned, model their salt as their very own to promote on the worldwide market at increased costs.
“The current ban would assist us to increase additional as it will wipe off the competitors from India,” Faizan Panjwani, the chief working officer of the Karachi-based RM Salt, informed Al Jazeera.
“Undoubtedly, India is a giant market and has a whole lot of potential, however we need to ship the salt by doing value-addition and never in uncooked type. Our salt is already in large demand globally,” he mentioned.
Commerce decline
Commerce between the 2 nations has been reducing since a 2019 assault on safety forces in Pulwama, in Indian-administered Kashmir, during which 40 safety personnel have been killed. In response, India revoked the non-discriminatory market standing – higher generally known as the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) standing – it had granted to Pakistan, which had ensured equal therapy between the commerce companions. It additionally imposed heavy tariffs of 200 p.c on imports from Pakistan.
In keeping with India’s Ministry of Commerce, the nation’s exports to Pakistan from April 2024 to January 2025 stood at $447.7m, whereas Pakistan’s exports to India throughout the identical interval have been a paltry $420,000.
In 2024, India imported about 642 metric tonnes of pink salt, which was far decrease than the 74,457 metric tonnes imported in 2018 – largely on account of the excessive tariffs.
Previous to the most recent ban, India’s main exports to Pakistan included cotton, natural chemical compounds, spices, meals merchandise, prescribed drugs, plastic articles and dairy merchandise. India usually imports copper articles, uncooked cotton, fruits, salt, minerals and a few speciality chemical compounds from Pakistan.
“The implementation of the heavy-duty had raised the import worth of the salt from 3.50 rupees [$0.041] per kilogramme to 24.50 rupees [$0.29] per kilogramme in 2019, though the salt was being routed from the third nation like Dubai,” dealer Kumar informed Al Jazeera.
“Nonetheless, it had not impacted our enterprise because the demand was too excessive, and patrons have been able to pay the worth. However the authorities, this time, has additionally prohibited the entry of Pakistani items from any third nation, which has introduced the availability to an entire standstill,” he mentioned.
One uncommon trade that’s being harm by the ban is lamps comprised of the Himalayan pink rock salt which can be used as ornamental lights and even tout unproven claims of being air purifiers.
“We now have to search for an alternate nation if the availability of rock salt doesn’t come from Pakistan,” mentioned World Aroma founder Deep, who makes use of a single identify. “The costs of the lamps had already elevated after the imposition of a 200 p.c tariff in 2019, and the procurement from another nation will result in additional escalation of price.”
