Nishantha Sandabarana, Attorney-at-Law, Chairman, Lanka Salt Company, Hambantota, said that the addition of various chemicals to the sea due to the burning of the ship would not hamper the production of salt in the country and could ensure that there would never be a shortage of salt in the country.
As the public opinion in the society that this would affect the salt production in the country, salt was bought and stored by consumers from shops. Consumers say that the accumulation of salt could result in an increase of salt prices, he said.
Whatever is added to seawater does not interfere with salt production. Only sodium chloride remains, evaporating all other chemical constituents. No matter what chemicals are added to the seawater due to the sinking and burning of the ship, all of those chemicals are removed by excessive evaporation during salt production. Only the remaining sodium chloride is used for salt production which will not contain anything unfit for human consumption.
Even now, seawater contains many different chemicals. Not only these ships but also other sources add to the seawater. Evaporation has the potential to extract all of that. Therefore, this will not be a hindrance to the country’s salt production.
“Forty percent of the country’s salt requirement is supplied by the Hambantota Salt Company. We already have over 125,000 metric tons of security stock. Salt is also manufactured by several other companies. At this point the price of salt will never go up. We urge the public not to be unnecessarily scared and collect salt.”
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