What Indian industrial salt is

Indian industrial salt is overwhelmingly solar salt: brine evaporated by sun and wind in shallow pans, then harvested, stacked and, for higher grades, washed. Two brine sources dominate. On the Gujarat coast, seawater is evaporated in coastal works. In the Little Rann of Kutch, salt workers pump subsoil brine — groundwater far saltier than the sea — into inland pans. According to the Indian Bureau of Mines, India produced 266 lakh tonnes of common salt in 2021-22, of which Gujarat produced 227.64 lakh tonnes, about 85%. Tamil Nadu (17.21 lakh tonnes) and Rajasthan (16.90 lakh tonnes) are a distant second and third.

Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025. Indian national statistics give a somewhat different total for 2021-22; national and USGS series differ in coverage and year basis.

The production season runs from roughly October to June. The south-west monsoon, from about June to September, floods the pans and stops harvesting. Export loading continues from stockpiles, but a buyer planning a programme should know that new-season salt arrives from late in the calendar year, and that stockpiled salt carries the moisture and handling history of the months it has waited.

The grades: raw crystal, washed, and chlor-alkali

Purity ranges: Salt Partners, Processing of salt for chemical and human consumption (2021). India’s own standard for chemical-industry salt is IS 797:1982 (reaffirmed 2012).

The impurity you cannot wash off

This is the most important section of this page, and it is the reason we are willing to tell some buyers that Indian salt is not their best option.

Washing removes impurities that sit on a salt crystal — clay, dust, adhering bittern. It does not remove impurities trapped inside the crystal, in fluid inclusions and in the crystal lattice, which form while the salt grows in the pan. How much a salt can be improved — its upgradability — is set by that internal content, not by how hard you wash. Salt Partners reports that washed salt from Gujarat and Tamil Nadu reaches 99.0–99.4% NaCl, that the best Indian salts reach about 99.7% after upgrading, and that some can hardly be upgraded or refined at all.

What impurities do inside a chlor-alkali plant

Source: Salt Partners (2021). Specific limits for strontium, barium, iodine, silica, aluminium and nickel depend on the membrane supplier and should come from your own plant specification.

Where Indian salt actually goes

India exported about US$333.4 million of salt (HS 2501) in 2023, up from US$311.7 million in 2022, according to UN Comtrade data as reported by TrendEconomy. By quantity, Indian Bureau of Mines data show 8.86 million tonnes exported in 2021-22.

Now look at the same trade from the importers’ side, in each importer’s own customs data for 2023:

Reading the main markets

China

China is the largest buyer of Indian salt by a wide margin and the market where Indian salt’s economics work best: short voyage, large chlor-alkali and soda ash capacity, and plants built to purify brine. Competition is chiefly Australian and Mexican salt.

South Korea

Korea takes about 13% of India’s salt exports by value. Industrial buyers there are specification-driven; expect tighter impurity limits and closer attention to consistency than in commodity soda-ash markets.

Japan

Japan imports over US$300m of salt a year and buys it overwhelmingly from Australia and Mexico. We would not present Indian salt to a Japanese membrane-cell plant as a like-for-like replacement. Where Indian salt can fit in Japan is in less demanding uses, or as a qualified secondary source after a trial.

Indonesia

Indonesia is a real but policy-constrained market. Its 2026 commodity balance, set on 30 December 2025, allocates 1.18 million tonnes of salt specifically to the chlor-alkali (CAP) industry; non-CAP imports, such as food and pharmaceutical salt, are allowed only under “specific circumstances” when domestic production falls short. The government is targeting industrial salt self-sufficiency in 2027. Buyers should treat import permission as the first condition of any Indonesian contract.

Qatar and the Gulf

Qatar takes about 5% of India’s salt exports by value, reflecting short sea routes from Gujarat and industrial demand in the Gulf.

Logistics: why Gujarat matters

Almost all Indian export salt leaves through Gujarat ports. Deendayal Port (formerly Kandla) handles more than 80% of Gujarat’s salt exports, according to the port authority. In April–June 2024 it shipped 39.39 lakh tonnes of salt, up nearly 66% year on year, including a monthly record of 16.63 lakh tonnes in June 2024. Mundra, Navlakhi and other Gulf of Kutch facilities also load salt.

One cost development is worth knowing about because it is changing the economics of Kutch salt: extraction of natural salt deposits near Khavda in the Great Rann, where seawater has left salt layers over about 80 sq km, has been reported at about Rs 25 per tonne against Rs 225 per tonne for conventional pan salt. Traditional producers oppose the policy, and its future is not settled. We mention it because it helps explain how Indian FOB prices can stay low, not because we are offering Khavda salt.

Price context

Bulk salt prices are negotiated by contract and are not published like exchange-traded commodities. For orientation only, the US Geological Survey reports 2024 average unit values in the United States of US$140 per tonne for solar salt, US$230 for vacuum and open-pan salt, US$56 for rock salt and US$10 for salt in brine (f.o.b. mine and plant, US market). These are not Indian FOB prices, which are typically far lower for raw and washed solar salt, but they show the price ladder between grades. For an Indian bulk cargo, freight frequently costs more than the salt; quote on a delivered basis when comparing origins.

Specification: what should be in the contract

Packing: private labelling from 1 kg to 50 kg, and bulk shipments

RNG Agro Exports offers private labelling from 1 kg to 50 kg pack sizes, and we also handle bulk shipments. For raw and chlor-alkali salt, bulk is the normal form; small packs serve distributors and industrial users who buy salt alongside other refined grades.

Working with RNG Agro Exports

We are based in Rajkot, in the state that makes about 85% of India’s salt, within reach of the Kutch salt works and the Gulf of Kutch ports that load almost all of India’s export salt. We supply from qualified producers in Gujarat. Being in Gujarat lets us inspect works and stockpiles before a lot is committed, not after. What we offer a chlor-alkali buyer is not a claim that Indian salt is the best salt in the world. We offer three things: an honest view of whether it fits your plant, independent lot-level testing, and a contract that prices the impurities that matter to you.

Frequently asked questions

Is Indian solar salt suitable for membrane-cell chlor-alkali plants?

It can be, but it depends on the plant’s brine purification and on the specific source. Washed Indian solar salt typically reaches 99.0–99.4% NaCl on a dry basis, while washed Australian and Mexican solar salt reaches 99.7–99.8%, according to Salt Partners. The best Indian salts reach about 99.7% after upgrading, and some can hardly be upgraded at all, because washing removes surface impurities but not those trapped inside the crystals. The trade pattern reflects this: India supplied about 52% of China’s salt imports in 2023 but only about US$2.2m of Japan’s US$314m. For a membrane plant, qualify the source with a dissolved-brine analysis and a trial lot, specify calcium, magnesium and sulphate separately, and do not rely on a surface certificate alone.

Why do calcium and magnesium matter so much?

Because they damage the ion-exchange membranes at the heart of a chlor-alkali cell irreversibly, and membranes cost roughly US$500–1,000 per square metre. Erratic calcium and magnesium levels can also cause hardness breakthrough in the brine purification stage. Excess magnesium carries an additional safety risk: it can cause hydrogen to form at the anode, and hydrogen mixed with chlorine is explosive. Sulphate is a cost rather than a safety issue: it accumulates in the brine loop and must be purged, and purge losses have reached 30% in membrane plants fed with salt containing about 0.7% sulphate. That is why a chlor-alkali contract should set separate limits for calcium, magnesium and sulphate rather than a single NaCl figure.

Where does India export its salt?

Mainly to East and South-East Asia and the Gulf. In 2023, by value, China took about 37% of India’s salt exports, South Korea 13.1%, Japan 7.92%, Indonesia 5.05%, Vietnam 5.01%, Qatar 4.93%, Bangladesh 4.82% and Nepal 3.39%, according to UN Comtrade data reported by TrendEconomy. India’s total salt exports were about US$333.4 million in 2023. By quantity, the Indian Bureau of Mines reported 8.86 million tonnes exported in 2021-22, including 2.61 million tonnes to China, 2.09 million to Korea and 1.17 million to Japan. Indian and importing-country records disagree noticeably for some markets, so treat individual figures with care.

How much of India’s salt comes from Gujarat, and which port ships it?

About 85%. The Indian Bureau of Mines reports that India produced 266 lakh tonnes of common salt in 2021-22, of which Gujarat produced 227.64 lakh tonnes; Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan followed with about 17 lakh tonnes each. Indian salt comes from coastal seawater works and from subsoil brine pumped in the Little Rann of Kutch. Deendayal Port, formerly Kandla, handles more than 80% of Gujarat’s salt exports and shipped 39.39 lakh tonnes in April–June 2024 alone, including a monthly record of 16.63 lakh tonnes in June. The production season runs roughly from October to June, as the monsoon floods the pans from about June to September.

Do you offer private labelling and bulk shipments for industrial salt?

Yes. RNG Agro Exports offers private labelling from 1 kg to 50 kg pack sizes and also handles bulk shipments. For raw and chlor-alkali salt, bulk is the normal form: loose bulk in containers, jumbo bags of about one tonne, and bulk-vessel cargoes quoted on enquiry. Packs from 1 kg to 5 kg suit distributors and small industrial users, 10 kg to 25 kg bags suit water treatment and general industrial distribution, and 50 kg bags suit plants without bulk intake and tender supply. Tell us the end use, the destination port and the annual quantity, and we will propose the format and the specification together, because for industrial salt the two are decided by the same plant.

• It can be, but it depends on the plant’s brine purification and on the specific source. Washed Indian solar salt typically reaches 99.0–99.4% NaCl on a dry basis, while washed Australian and Mexican solar salt reaches 99.7–99.8%, according to Salt Partners. The best Indian salts reach about 99.7% after upgrading, and some can hardly be upgraded at all, because washing removes surface impurities but not those trapped inside the crystals. The trade pattern reflects this: India supplied about 52% of China’s salt imports in 2023 but only about US$2.2m of Japan’s US$314m. For a membrane plant, qualify the source with a dissolved-brine analysis and a trial lot, specify calcium, magnesium and sulphate separately, and do not rely on a surface certificate alone.
• Because they damage the ion-exchange membranes at the heart of a chlor-alkali cell irreversibly, and membranes cost roughly US$500–1,000 per square metre. Erratic calcium and magnesium levels can also cause hardness breakthrough in the brine purification stage. Excess magnesium carries an additional safety risk: it can cause hydrogen to form at the anode, and hydrogen mixed with chlorine is explosive. Sulphate is a cost rather than a safety issue: it accumulates in the brine loop and must be purged, and purge losses have reached 30% in membrane plants fed with salt containing about 0.7% sulphate. That is why a chlor-alkali contract should set separate limits for calcium, magnesium and sulphate rather than a single NaCl figure.
• Mainly to East and South-East Asia and the Gulf. In 2023, by value, China took about 37% of India’s salt exports, South Korea 13.1%, Japan 7.92%, Indonesia 5.05%, Vietnam 5.01%, Qatar 4.93%, Bangladesh 4.82% and Nepal 3.39%, according to UN Comtrade data reported by TrendEconomy. India’s total salt exports were about US$333.4 million in 2023. By quantity, the Indian Bureau of Mines reported 8.86 million tonnes exported in 2021-22, including 2.61 million tonnes to China, 2.09 million to Korea and 1.17 million to Japan. Indian and importing-country records disagree noticeably for some markets, so treat individual figures with care.
• About 85%. The Indian Bureau of Mines reports that India produced 266 lakh tonnes of common salt in 2021-22, of which Gujarat produced 227.64 lakh tonnes; Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan followed with about 17 lakh tonnes each. Indian salt comes from coastal seawater works and from subsoil brine pumped in the Little Rann of Kutch. Deendayal Port, formerly Kandla, handles more than 80% of Gujarat’s salt exports and shipped 39.39 lakh tonnes in April–June 2024 alone, including a monthly record of 16.63 lakh tonnes in June. The production season runs roughly from October to June, as the monsoon floods the pans from about June to September.

What this means for a buyer. A surface analysis of a washed sample can look excellent and still tell you little about how that salt will behave in your brine plant, because what dissolves into your brine includes what was locked inside the crystal. Two lots with similar certificates can carry very different internal loads. So for chlor-alkali use, qualify the source, not the certificate: ask for a dissolved-brine analysis of a representative sample, ask how consistent the works is across a season, and run a trial lot before a term contract. A supplier who only offers you a surface certificate is not giving you the number that matters.