ESSA has been unable to market 5 to 6Mt of its salt

Exportadora de Sal (ESSA) is a solar salt manufacturer in Guerrero Negro, Mexico, with a production capacity of 8Mtpy. The Governor of Baja California Sur, Víctor Castro Cosío, recently went to the salt manufacturer to find out what it needed as it was rumoured that thousands of tonnes of product could not be marketed. The trip revealed that 5 to 6 million tonnes of salt have not been sold.

ESSA was nationalised in February this year when an agreement was made for the Ministry of Economy of Mexico, the existing shareholder of ESSA, to acquire 49% of shares belonging to Mitsubishi Corporation (MC). MC had been a partner in the business since 1973 and said that after the sale it would continue to purchase salt produced by ESSA and provide a stable supply to its customers.

MC had a critical role in the sales of ESSA’s salt, as it was responsible for the Asian market, where salt is highly sought after for use in the chemical industry. Now that MC is not handling the salt sales, ESSA is reportedly struggling to market some of its salt. The Governor reported that the salt is not being sold because the asking prices are too low and ESSA prefers to hold onto the salt while it looks for new markets and obtains a price above US$20/t.