Rescinds mandatory naphthalene treatment

Trade officials have issued a directive permitting the operation of salt processing plants outside of the Afar Regional State in a bid to undo the disastrous consequences brought on by another directive from 2023.

The directive approved by Kassahun Gofe, minister of Trade and Regional Integration, replaces one introduced under the administration of his predecessor, Gebremeskel Challa, prohibiting the operation of salt processing plants outside Afar and obligating processors to treat industrial salt with naphthalene.

The first directive has been criticized for enabling the monopolization of the salt market by a handful of businesses, and members of Parliament have repeatedly called for it to be amended since it was issued over a year ago.

The directive granted the Afar Mining Corporation unprecedented control over the mining and supply of salt—a trade that had previously included both private businesses and the state-owned Ethiopian Industrial Inputs Development Enterprise (EIIDE).

Breweries and tanneries, which require large volumes of industrial salt, were among the worst affected as the monopoly led to depleted stocks.

The directive required all salt intended for industrial use to be treated with naphthalene prior to distribution. However, forex shortages meant that processors could not import the chemical, further exacerbating the problem. The additional cost of naphthalene also burdened processing plants, according to the Ministry.

The requirement has now been lifted.

Trade officials say a clause in the previous directive permitting manufacturing industries that use salt as an input to keep reserves has led to hoarding and created an artificial scarcity in the market. They argue the amendment was difficult to implement, and prevented the utilization of natural resources.

During a parliamentary session last year, officials from the Ministry of Industry decried the absurdity of shortages while there are millions of tons of salt sitting idle in warehouses. At the time, MPs also urged for a political solution to the conundrum as substantial volumes of salt mined and stocked in the Afar region could not be distributed due to the directive.

However, some insiders claim the older directive was designed to reserve the salt business for certain companies.