Beijing, March 19 (IANS) China Friday moved to halt panic buying of salt triggered by rumors that iodized salt could help guard against radiation poisoning. Radiation fears over Japan's crippled nuclear power plant have fuelled salt-buying frenzy in the country.
"Salt supply is guaranteed in the country," the commerce ministry said on its website, adding that the salt reserves in the country are "quite substantial".
China has an annual salt production capacity of more than 80 million tonnes, but its edible salt consumption is only about eight million tonnes a year and salt companies usually have stocks for three months' consumption, China Daily reported citing the ministry.
The government statement comes after the country's largest salt maker the China National Salt Industry Corp. said Thursday that it had ample salt reserves to meet people's needs and panic buying and hoarding was unnecessary.
Most salt sold in China has been iodized as part of government efforts to prevent iodine deficiency disorders.
Worried shoppers in Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Jiangsu and Hubei provinces, and in Beijing and Chongqing municipalities, have stripped the supermarket shelves of the necessities, including salt.
The ministry has launched an emergency response mechanism to to meet people's needs and for timely distribution of goods.
It has advised shops and supermarkets to increase their salt inventory if necessary and supply the product in an orderly, balanced and sustained way, the newspaper said.
The China National Salt Industry Corp. plans to step up production and start a 24-hour distribution programme.
Rumors in some Chinese cities say that radiation has leaked into the sea from Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant, compromising safety of the salt that comes from the ocean.
Only 20 percent of the country's salt comes from the ocean and most salt on sale is rock salt, which is mined, according to the salt company.
In the equity market, shares of salt-related companies fell Friday after salt company stocks surged Thursday. The shares of Yunnan Salt & Salt Chemical Co. Ltd. dropped more than four percent after it rose by 10 percent Thursday.