Trade and Industry Undersecretary Ruth Castelo said the country has sufficient supply of salt amid shortage claimed by an official of the Department of Agriculture.

During the "Laging Handa" public briefing, Castelo explained that the increase in the price of salt in the market was not driven by shortage.

"On the issue of supply, we have sufficient supply because we have around three or four large companies that produce salt and we also have imported (salt). You can see in the market that there are a lot of imported salt. So, we will not have shortage in the supply (of salt)," he said.

Castelo said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) allowed an increase in the price of salt from some manufacturer who did not raise their price in the past few years.

"In our latest suggested retail price bulletin on August 12, 2022, we allowed an increase in the price of salt. But we need to understand that these manufacturers did not increase their price for a long time. It seems that is was four, five or six years ago before they made a request (for a price increase), So in our computation we really have to increase the price," he said.

The Manila Times reported Tuesday that Senior Agriculture Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban said the country has a ''half a billion peso shortage in salt production.''

He said is being produced only in Batangas, Cagayan and Mindanao. "Because we have no program for the sector, we are importing,'' said Panganiban. Robina Asido/DMS