After 12 years, the tide of salt hoarding has reappeared in many places, and some platforms continue to run out of stock, and China Salt Group has called overnight not to blindly rush to buy

Source: Times Finance Author: Wang Yingling Wang Yan

At 13:00 local time on August 24, Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant started to discharge nuclear contaminated water into the sea. As soon as the news came out, the South Korean people began a new round of crazy salt grabbing, resulting in a sharp increase in the price of salt, and even a shortage of stock.

In China, some consumers have also opened the "hoarding mode". Some netizens said, "Everyone is hoarding salt, and they can't avoid participating in it." Times Finance noticed that in Fujian, Jiangsu and Guangdong, the number of consumers buying salt has increased significantly, and some shelves have even been emptied.

At the same time, #Citizens in many places in China grabbed salt#, #China Salt Group responded to salt rush to buy# and other topics have rushed to the hot search.

At about 8 p.m., Times Finance noticed that many varieties of edible salt on multiple platforms such as Guangzhou Meituan Grocery Shopping, Pupu Supermarket, and Taoxianda had been sold out. At about 10 o'clock, Pupu Supermarket had a small amount of salt replenished on the shelves, but soon continued to run out of stock. Offline, there are also cases of edible salt in supermarkets that have been replenished.

In the evening, China Salt Group, as the world's largest salt producer, issued a statement on ensuring the supply of salt market, saying that the current structure of salt products in the mainland accounts for 87% of well salt, 10% of sea salt and 3% of lake salt, and the production of well salt and lake salt is not affected by Japanese nuclear pollution. Call on all sectors of society to consume rationally and not blindly rush to buy.

Salt hoarding tide in various places, salt stock "carnival"

At about 9 p.m. on August 24, the reporter came to a China Resources Vanguard supermarket in Guangzhou and saw that some citizens came to the seasoning shelves one after another to buy edible salt.

At a China Resources Vanguard supermarket in Guangzhou, citizens hold a large bag of salt. Photo by Times Finance

While citizens snapped up salt, supermarket worker Sister Chen kept restocking the shelves. Sister Chen told Times Finance that since she went to work at 2 p.m., she has been standing in front of the salt shelf to replenish the stock, "I haven't done anything else in the past 7 hours, and I have been constantly putting salt on the shelf." In the face of consumers who came to inquire, Sister Chen also said: "Only these, all here, empty varieties are gone." ”

Some citizens who came to buy it told Times Finance, "Although I don't know what the impact will be, my friend urged me to buy salt quickly, and I came." There are also citizens who stop in front of the shelves but do not buy, just "watch the liveliness", "I don't think there is any need to buy, salt is an important material to protect people's livelihood, it will definitely not be out of stock, I want to see if anyone grabs it." ”

Times Finance noticed at the scene that there were a total of 28 kinds of edible salt on the shelves, and as of about 9 p.m., a total of 17 kinds of edible salt were sold out, of which low-priced edible salt of about 1 yuan and 2 yuan were sold out first. The salt that has not yet been sold out is almost more than 5 yuan / pack, and there are more than 10 yuan a can of salt, almost no one cares.

All the low-priced salt was sold out, and only the high-priced salt was left unattended. Photo by Times Finance

Cashier Wu Jie said that since going to work at 3 p.m., almost all the consumers who came to pay for it in the past six hours have bought salt. However, according to her, everyone did not exaggerate too much when they hoarded salt, "Most people just buy a few packs by the way, and more buy a dozen packs, and there is no case of buying a whole box." ”

Sister Chen also said that there is no need to stock up on salt, "The warehouse will be replenished tomorrow, and the salt will definitely not be missing." ”

Jiang Wen, who lives in Shanghai, learned that Japan would discharge nuclear contaminated water at noon Beijing time today, and bought 20 bags of rock salt and 5 cans of sea salt on the online platform early in the morning, "I bought it for my family and my parents' house, although I don't know what impact drainage will have, but salt is not afraid to put it, and there will always be no problem in buying a little." In the afternoon, she wanted to buy more, but found that she couldn't buy it anymore.

Cheng Xing also encountered the problem of "difficulty in buying salt" in Hangzhou, "I saw the entire shelf empty in Yonghui Supermarket. A notice posted on the shelves reads 'Salt Temporarily Sold Out'. Cheng Xing told Times Finance.

This is not the first time the "salt rush" has occurred.

As early as 12 years ago, on March 16, 2011, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan caused a nuclear leak, and the "nuclear leakage" panic caused by the explosion of Japan's nuclear power plants spread throughout the country.

Wang Ying, who lives in Sichuan, once joined the "salt grabbing army": "At that time, I was afraid that I would not be able to eat salt, and I saw that everyone was robbing it, so I bought a few boxes of salt and returned to a few people to share." However, this time Wang Ying appeared more calm, "There was no shortage after robbing the salt back then, and it took a long time to eat the salt, and this time I felt even more unnecessary." ”

It can be seen that most people are more rational than they were 12 years ago. The reporter also visited several convenience stores and learned that almost no one went to the convenience store to "grab salt", and the clerks of a Lawson convenience store and 711 convenience store in Guangzhou told reporters, "No one came to buy salt today, and there was no replenishment." ”

Edible salt in convenience stores, no one rushed to buy. Photo by Times Finance

Under the tide of salt hoarding, salt stocks in the A-share market also performed strongly, as of the close of trading on August 24, Jiangyan Group (601065. SH) rose to a limit, the war three consecutive boards, Suyanjing Shen (603299.SH), Xuetian Salt Industry (600929.SH), China Salt Chemical (600328.SH) stock prices also rose to a certain extent. Many investors have also asked about the impact of Japan's discharge of nuclear-contaminated water on the business of listed companies.

Mainland edible salt is mainly well salt, and many departments say that there is no need to rush to buy

As a special food, the state has a strict and perfect standard system for salt quality testing. Among them, sea salt is made of seawater (some in the north use underground brine) as raw materials, natural sun exposure, no chemical additives, retaining a variety of minerals and trace elements needed by the human body, such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and other elements.

According to public data, the mainland is the country with the largest raw salt production capacity and output in the world, and the salt production is divided into sea salt production area, well salt production area and lake salt production area. In 2022, the mainland's raw salt production capacity will reach 115.85 million tons, and the output will reach 83.9 million tons; In 2022, the apparent consumption of raw salt in China will reach 58.3 million tons, with 51.86% of caustic soda, 36.85% of soda ash and 11.29% of others; 713,000 tons of raw salt were exported and 9.425 million tons were imported. About 70% of the total consumption of raw salt is used in salt chemical industry, and the rest is used for food and other purposes. In general, the existing salt production capacity is greater than the consumption demand, and there is a certain degree of oversupply.

In this regard, Wang Xiaoqing, executive director of the China Salt Industry Association, said in an interview with the media that our country has strict food safety regulations, and the domestic salt production also meets the demand, so it is not recommended to follow the practice of the Korean people hoarding salt. The mainland produces edible salt, using raw materials such as sea salt, well salt and lake salt, with a composition ratio of 22%, 61% and 17% respectively.

Ruan Quang Feng, deputy director of Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center, also mentioned that the mainland has abundant salt resources, salt production scale is large, can meet the domestic market demand, and most of the mainland's salt is mineral salt, mainly from salt lakes and salt mines.

In fact, after the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, the mainland has introduced stricter testing standards for Japanese imported food. Since 2012, the monitoring of radioactive substances in food has been included in the scope of national food safety risk monitoring. For example, the national standard "Limit Concentration Standard for Radioactive Substances in Food" (GB 14882-1994) formulated by the mainland as early as 1994 stipulates the residue limits of 12 kinds of radioactive substances in various foods, as well as the "General Rules for the Inspection of Radioactive Substances in Food" (GB 14883.1), "Determination of Hydrogen-3 for the Testing of Radioactive Substances in Food" (GB 14883.2) and so on.

Today, the relevant salt industry departments in various places have also responded that there is no need to rush to buy edible salt. According to the WeChat public account of China Salt Industry Group Co., Ltd., due to the impact of Japan's nuclear contaminated water discharged into the sea, salt rush has occurred in some mainland markets. The mainland implements fixed-point production management for salt, and the sources of mainland salt are mainly divided into three categories: mine salt, lake salt and sea salt. At present, the structure of salt products in the mainland accounts for 87% of well salt, 10% of sea salt and 3% of lake salt, and the production of mine salt and lake salt is not affected by Japanese nuclear pollution. China Salt Group is the world's largest salt production enterprise, with a salt production capacity of more than 10 million tons per year, of which well salt accounts for 95%, lake salt accounts for 4%, and sea salt accounts for 1%. China Salt Group has a perfect layout of production and marketing enterprises in the country, and the supply of salt reserves is sufficient.

Guangdong Salt Industry said that at present, the provincial and municipal salt government reserves and corporate social responsibility reserves totaling 108,000 tons, covering 100% of the administrative regions of cities and counties in the province, can respond quickly and in a timely manner, and ensure the sufficient supply of salt to the people of Guangdong Province. "Citizens don't have to panic, let alone follow the example of 'hoarding salt'." The person in charge of Guangdong salt industry said.

Zhejiang Salt Group also said that Zhejiang Salt Industry Franchise Company, the company's salt business platform, is a national salt designated production enterprise and salt designated wholesale enterprise, which undertakes the task of government salt reserves and is the main force and main channel of salt supply in Zhejiang Province. At present, Zhejiang Province has sufficient salt stocks, and the reserves of various edible salts in the province are about 160,000 tons, which can cover 100% of all administrative regions in the province and ensure timely local emergency supply.

The Shandong Salt Industry Association also issued an official announcement that the salt produced in Shandong Province is mainly produced from mine salt and underground brine, and is not affected by the discharge of Japan's nuclear contaminated water into the sea. The province's provincial, municipal and county salt government reserves, 11 salt (multi-variety salt) designated production enterprises, and 125 salt designated wholesale corporate social responsibility reserves totaling more than 170,000 tons, which can meet the normal sales volume of the province for more than half a year, and consumers do not have to follow the trend to buy salt.

(The interviewees in the article are pseudonyms)