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If you use social media, especially Facebook, you’ve likely come across posts about Pakistan’s pink salt and its purported agreement with India.
These posts claim that Pakistani pink salt (rock salt) holds high value in the international market, but due to a longstanding trade treaty with India, Pakistan is allegedly forced to sell this salt at very low prices. Meanwhile, India is said to re-export the salt, including to the USA, generating billions of dollars annually.
Citizens in these posts urge Pakistan to terminate the pink salt treaty with India and instead export the salt directly to the international market to potentially earn billions of dollars every year. However, the reality is quite different.
No Treaty Exists Between India and Pakistan:
Four years ago, it was stated in the Pakistani Senate that claims of Pakistan exporting pink salt to India under a contractual arrangement at 37 paisa per kilogram were incorrect.
The then Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Azam Khan Swati, clarified that these reports circulating in the media, especially on social media, were false. He refuted the claim that Pakistan was exporting salt to India under an agreement priced at 25 paisa per kg, which India then allegedly re-exported for over Rs 3000 per kg to the USA and other countries.
Swati explained that Pakistan had been exporting pink salt to India at an average price of Rs 7.04 per kilogram. He emphasized that India is the world’s largest exporter of rock salt, with annual exports totaling around 12.8 million tonnes.
“Since India exports mainly low-quality industrial salt used in soda ash, the value of exported salt was US$ 226 million, with an average unit price of US$ 18 per ton or approximately Rs 2.7 per kilogram.”
