During the coronavirus crisis, many measures are being taken to keep the food and pharmaceutical industries afloat. And that’s only logical; these sectors are crucial for supplying the population and averting the crisis. But what’s often forgotten is how heavily these industries rely on salt. It’s an essential raw material at the beginning of the production chain, but also one of the cheapest. Buying a ton of salt can sometimes cost just a few dozen euros

Not many people are aware of it, but salt is an essential raw material for the production of many everyday products. Besides its well-known applications in food and de-icing, salt is used in no fewer than 14,000 applications. ” Hospitals, for example, need soft, decalcified water for their kidney dialysis machines. Without our water softening salt, the water softeners can’t function ,” explains Gehad, COO of Moses. As the only salt producer in Belgium, the company is aware of its crucial social role: ” If we can no longer supply salt due to the coronavirus crisis, this will quickly lead to a massive shutdown of businesses. And this in crucial sectors such as the food and pharmaceutical industry .”

The price of salt is disproportionate to its social importance and the strict quality requirements that come with it. A salt shortage would quickly lead to a massive shutdown in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

To ensure continuity, moses has been investing heavily in its production process for years. ” We invest 10% of our turnover annually in new machinery, technologies, and maintenance ,” Lamote continues. ” This makes moses robust enough to weather even the current crisis with flying colors.” moses production is so highly automated that just a few operators can manage the entire production process, and they do so while maintaining a good distance from each other. Strict hygiene measures are also deeply ingrained in the company culture. Therefore, the salt manufacturer is currently experiencing little impact from the coronavirus crisis. Inventories are being maintained at maximum levels, and transporters are also still able to keep up.

Negotiating a euro per tonne

Staying afloat during crisis periods is no easy task for salt companies. Margins are very low, and winters are getting warmer. And the latter is a financial setback: the snow season has long served as a buffer for many salt companies, allowing them to sell large volumes of road salt. “It’s not unusual for customers to negotiate hard to get a euro less per ton. Many salt companies find it difficult to resist, but it puts pressure on the salt market. It’s an unsustainable and dangerous situation, ” says Moses

During the current coronavirus crisis, staff shortages pose the greatest risk to Moses. ” No matter how closely we observe all hygiene measures, we can’t guarantee our staff won’t get sick. No one can.” This doesn’t pose a risk to the salt—the virus can’t survive on it—but it does pose a risk to production capacity. And therefore, indirectly, to the many companies that depend on the salt

” It certainly won’t get to that point ,” Bert Lamote guarantees. ” We have a fantastic team of dedicated employees who are doing everything they can to continue supplying high-quality salt. But it remains a precarious situation that’s difficult to predict. It’s important that we realize how important salt is to our society.”