# Salt: Characteristics

Why calcium, magnesium and moisture matter to buyers

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/salt/characteristics/

What this tab covers The supply and physical characteristics of the commodity. Supply: current production, inventories and stocks, capacity utilisation, geographic and producer concentration, how fast supply responds to price, the project pipeline and capital spending, and logistics and export flows. Material: the physical and chemical properties that set its grade, price and end uses (for example purity and conductivity for metals, API gravity, sulfur and energy content for fuels, moisture, protein and fibre quality for crops).

#### Supply volume characteristics

| Characteristic | Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Current production volume** | about 270 Mt (2025e); 275 Mt in 2024 | China 56 Mt, US 40 Mt, India 30 Mt, Germany 15 Mt, Canada 13 Mt and Australia 12 Mt in 2025. US salt sold by type: brine 44%, rock 38%, solar 9%, vacuum pan 9%. | USGS MCS 2026, Salt |
| **Inventory and stock levels** | not published globally; road-salt stockpiles are the key seasonal stock | There is no exchange or US government stockpile. Highway agencies and producers build road-salt piles before winter; a regional shortage hit New York in early 2025 when demand surged. US imports rose to about 19 Mt in 2025 from 13.9 Mt to rebuild supply. | USGS MCS 2026 |
| **Capacity utilisation** | not published | No industry-wide rate exists. European chlor-alkali closures from high energy costs are cutting brine demand, while Asian demand for caustic soda and PVC is rising. Indian solar salt output varies with monsoon length. | USGS MCS 2026 |
| **Geographic and producer concentration** | China 21%, US 15%, India 11%; top-3 about 47%; HHI 938 (2024, WMD) | Salt is the least concentrated commodity in this group: almost every country has deposits or evaporation sites. Large firms include China National Salt, K+S, Compass Minerals, Cargill and India's Archean Chemical. | USGS MCS 2026; World Mining Data 2026 |
| **Supply elasticity** | high long-run; medium short-run (road salt limited by mine hoisting and logistics in winter) | Reserves are effectively unlimited, and solar works and brine wells can be expanded. Short-run supply of rock salt is tight in severe winters because mines and barges run at fixed rates. | USGS MCS 2026 |
| **Project pipeline and CapEx** | incremental: Nobian Mariager (Denmark) MVR expansion to up to 1 Mt/yr (2026); Tata Chemicals 70 kt pharma salt (FY2025); Hindustan Salts plans 1 Mt/yr at Sambhar | Most new capacity is brownfield. CapEx for most projects is not published. | Chemical Engineering, June 2026; Tata Chemicals FY2025; content_v2 |
| **Logistics and export flows** | exports $3.14 billion (2024): India 13.7%, Germany 11.9%, Netherlands 10.5%; China (13.7%) and US (13.6%) lead imports | India exported 17.3 Mt in 2024, about 29% of world seaborne salt trade (BRS), mainly from Gujarat ports to East Asia. US imports come from Mexico (26%), Chile (23%) and Canada (21%). Great Lakes and Mississippi barge routes freeze or slow in winter. | UN Comtrade 2024; BRS via content_v2; USGS MCS 2026 |

#### Material characteristics Industrial mineral

Salt is sodium chloride. What matters commercially is purity, moisture, particle size and the content of calcium, magnesium and sulphate. Chlor-alkali plants need very pure brine, food salt must meet Codex and iodisation rules, and road salt needs only coarse grading. Cheap bulk value makes delivered cost, not quality, the main competitive factor.

| Property | Value / specification | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| **NaCl purity** | Food grade at least 97% NaCl on dry basis; vacuum salt typically above 99.5% (indicative) | Sets food, pharma and chemical uses and price tier ($260/t vacuum vs $54/t rock salt, US 2025) | Codex Standard 150-1985; USGS MCS 2026 |
| **Iodine content (India)** | at least 30 ppm at manufacture and 15 ppm at consumer level | Mandatory for edible salt in India | FSSAI regulations (indicative) |
| **Calcium and magnesium** | Chlor-alkali membrane cells need brine purified to parts-per-billion Ca and Mg (indicative) | Hardness ions damage membranes, so low-impurity salt cuts brine treatment cost | Chlor-alkali industry practice (indicative) |
| **Moisture** | Solar salt typically a few percent water; vacuum salt dried to well under 0.5% (indicative) | Affects caking, freight weight and dosing | Industry specifications (indicative) |
| **Particle size** | Road salt coarse (several mm); table salt fine (0.2-0.8 mm) (indicative) | Coarse grains spread and melt ice evenly; fine grains dissolve fast | Industry specifications (indicative) |
| **Anti-caking additives** | Ferrocyanide or similar at low ppm (indicative) | Keeps road and table salt free-flowing | Codex Standard 150-1985 (indicative) |

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/salt/index.md)
- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/salt/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/salt/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/salt/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/salt/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/salt/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/salt/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/salt/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/salt/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/salt/criticality/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/salt/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/salt/links/index.md)