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How the Philippines' last salt farmers keep a dying industry alive
Few young Filipinos remember that the coastal towns of Bulacan as well as southern Metro Manila towns of Parañaque, Las Piñas and Cavite were once major sea salt producers in the Philippines
- PUBLISHED: Wed 3 Jun 2026, 6:00 AM
Filipino salt farmer Amando was racing against time on Tuesday, raking in what his salt beds had produced for the week before the monsoon rains come. The Philippines has officially entered the monsoon season this week, the country’s weather bureau has announced.
While the Philippines suffered one of its worst summers this year due to worsening effects of climate change, it had been a slightly better season for Amando and other artisanal sea salt producers in the province of Pangasinan.
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“The steady sun had made the seawater evaporate from our salt beds faster. I was able to have two additional cycles in the months of April to May,” he told Khaleej Times. With his storeroom three-fourths full, he hopes his sales this year would enable him to pay his children’s tuition as the new academic year approaches.
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But Amando is wistful of the heydays of salt-making in their province, named after the sprawling salt beds in the area. It is the only remaining province in the entire country where salt beds remain and the industry valued.
Few young Filipinos remember that the coastal towns of Bulacan province as well as southern Metro Manila towns of Parañaque, Las Piñas and Cavite were major sea salt producers in the Philippines. Bulacan province alone once produced 45 per cent of the country’s salt requirement as late as 1994.
It took a well-meaning but ill-advised salt-related law to destroy the Philippines’ once-thriving salt industry.
ASIN Law was a sin to producers
In 1995, the Fidel Ramos government bowed down to proposals by international agencies to mandate that all salt sold to the public must be iodised. The ASIN Law of 1995 (Republic Act 8172) said iodised salt would help cure widespread health deficiencies in the country, such as goiter and decreasing mental capacities among schoolchildren.
In no time, groceries and stores were only selling packaged bags called Fidel Salt, named after the then president. The problem was, locally-produced sea salt is difficult to iodise and keep in plastic bags as they melt in the Philippines’ humid weather.
Many small-scale traditional salt farmers protested against the law, holding rallies in Congress. They were ignored.
Barely a year into the measure’s implementation, the salt farmers were forced to stop producing because they lacked the expensive machinery needed for iodisation.
Meanwhile, salt farms south of Manila and in Bulacan province began making way for rapid urbanisation. In place of picturesque salt-making areas, they were turned into gated subdivisions and malls in a hurry.
Traditional salt-making was also adversely affected by climate change that caused prolonged wet seasons, natural enemies of sea salt production.
From producer to importer
The Philippines became a 93 per cent net importer of its annual salt requirements, a condition that festers to this day. This amounts to roughly 550,000 to 628,000 metric tons of salt each year, at an estimated value of $38 million to $54 million.
The country consumes about 600,000 to 683,000 metric tons of salt annually for food, agricultural, and industrial manufacturing purposes. The vast majority of imported salt comes from Australia at around 72 to 80 per cent, followed by China and Thailand.
It is not just domestic consumption that relies heavily on imported salt. As a major fishing country, the Philippines also uses tons of salt daily to help keep fish catch fresh while still out in the sea.
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP, Farmers’ Movement of the Philippines) said it is ironic that as an archipelagic country with a long stretch of shoreline, it is ironic that the Philippines was forced to become a net salt importer. It thus supported the passage of a new law to help the salt industry recover.
“This measure, if enacted and enforced conscientiously, will help revive the dying domestic salt industry, and can give employment to the rural population, especially fisher-folk,” the group said.
Such law lapsed into effect in 2024 when President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. failed to pay attention to a Congressional measure called the Philippine Salt Industry Development Act (Republic Act 11985).
The new law, however, is being largely ignored.
Urgent call to produce locally
The Philippine Salt Industry Development Roadmap was crafted to oversee “modernisation and industrialisation” of the sector. It also mandated government agencies to map out public lands, municipal waters, and areas covered by existing Fishpond Lease Agreements (FLAs) that are viable for salt production.
The government also said support mechanisms are underway, including the push for a dedicated Salt Industry Development Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (SIDCEF) to channel tariffs into mechanisation and post-harvest facilities.
Three years into the its effectivity, however, no new salt beds are being created and Philippine production has only decreased.
The KMP reiterated its demand against cheap agricultural imports. “The Philippine government must look at what we farmers can locally produce, not just at what it could readily import,” the group said.