[Inflation Hits Livelihoods] Salt Prices, Flat for 10 Years, Soar in One Year... Blamed on Solar Power?

Salt Prices Soar 30% in One Year
Salt Pans Decrease by 23.4% Since Moon Administration Inauguration...Sharp Decline in Salt Production

Salt Price Trends in the Last 10 Years (Source: Statistics Korea)

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Son Seon-hee, Sejong=Reporter Lee Dong-woo] The price of salt, which had been stable for nearly 10 years, has surged by more than 30% in just the past year. It is pointed out that the rapid expansion of the solar power industry, as part of the Moon Jae-in administration's nuclear phase-out policy, has inadvertently caused the 'side effect' of raising salt prices.

According to Statistics Korea on the 2nd, the salt price index as of January was 132.9 (base year 2020=100), up 31.7% compared to the same month a year earlier. The salt price index recorded 91.8 in October 2011 and remained below 100 until mid-2020, maintaining a nearly flat trend for almost 10 years. However, after surpassing 100 for the first time in June 2020 (100.59), it showed a sharp upward trend from August last year (117.3) to September (121.7) → October (129.6) → November (129.3) → December (129). Among 401 items in the core price index, salt was the item with the highest price increase in the past year.

Solar Power Plant Complex in Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do

The rapid rise in salt prices is attributed to the solar power projects actively promoted during the Moon Jae-in administration. The expansion of solar panels has reduced the area of salt farms producing salt. According to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the nationwide salt farm area decreased by 23.4% from 4,777 hectares in 2017, the first year of Moon Jae-in's administration, to 3,659 hectares in 2021. During the same period, the number of salt farm businesses fell by 13.9% (155 businesses), from 1,111 to 956. Naturally, salt production also sharply declined. The nationwide production of solar salt shrank by 9.06%, from 309,000 tons in 2017 to 281,000 tons in 2021.

Professor Kang Sung-jin of Korea University’s Department of Economics said, "The current government has significantly increased subsidies for installing solar power facilities on forest land or farmland, leading to widespread land development nationwide. Some salt farm businesses increased panel installations, judging that solar power profits were higher than salt farming, which ultimately appeared as the side effect of the sharp rise in salt prices."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.