Salt producers in Mon State say they are trying to increase production during this year’s salt season to recover losses suffered last year due to unstable weather and labor shortages.

Producers said that labor availability has improved this year and weather conditions have remained stable. As a result, salt harvesting has been carried out up to six times so far this season. A salt producer in Ye Township and Thanbyuzayat Township said producers have already harvested up to 80,000 viss of salt each.

A salt producer from Palaingkee Village said he believes this year’s production could help offset last year’s losses.

“This year we have not faced major difficulties like last year. There are enough workers and the weather has been favorable, so we are trying to increase production. Meteorologists say the rains may arrive later this year, so we expect to harvest salt more than 10 times,” he said.

The current market price for crude salt is around 500 kyats per viss, which producers say is a reasonable price.

Last year’s salt production season was disrupted by security concerns that prevented salt workers from Yangon Region and Ayeyarwady Region from traveling to Mon State for work. In addition, heavy rain began in April, forcing producers to stop salt production earlier than usual.

As a result, producers managed to produce only about half of the expected output and suffered losses amounting to tens of millions of kyats.

“Last year, many of the workers we had hired could not come because of the security situation. Then rain began on April 11, before the Thingyan festival, so we had to close the salt fields early. From my 30 acres of salt fields, I was able to produce only about 180,000 viss,” said a salt producer from Thanbyuzayat.

In 2025, when tens of thousands of viss of salt were damaged or lost, the price of crude salt rose to a record 1,000 kyats per viss. However, most producers had no remaining salt stocks to sell, and most of the profits were made by brokers and traders.

Under normal conditions, a producer with about 30 acres of salt fields can produce around 380,000 viss of salt per season. Last year, however, production dropped to about 50 percent below normal levels, according to producers.

Salt production is an important livelihood for local communities in Mon State, particularly in Thanbyuzayat Township, Ye Township and Paung Township, where most of the region’s salt is produced.