Ukrainians are in a panic, Europe is tightening its belts: how salt shortage will affect the world

The high cost of salt, which is overestimated by 10 times, or even its absence on store shelves, has recently been of great concern to every Ukrainian. Social networks are now actively discussing this issue. People are also dissatisfied with the fact that only imported ones remain, and they are even more expensive.

So, on the shelves of shops we can see prices from 80 to 95 UAH per kilogram.

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However, as Oleg Ruban, the head of the Kyiv State Food Service, said in a commentary, salt does not belong to socially significant products and, for example, it is available in sufficient quantities in Kyiv stores.

Salt is available in Kyiv stores in sufficient quantities, maybe Artemsol is not available due to hostilities in the region. We monitor all food products, but salt is not a socially significant product,” he said.

Why is there a shortage?

As director of the enterprise Viktor Yurin said in a commentary to Free Radio, the state-owned enterprise Artyomsol (Soledar, Donetsk region), the largest salt producer in Europe, stopped work for an indefinite period due to military operations by Russian troops.

“The enterprise does not work, it is idle, according to the order, until an indefinite time. The shelling is constant, the administrative building is partially destroyed. There were direct hits in the mines, the material warehouse. The production process is impossible. We do not endanger people. SE “Artyomsol” has already been evacuated”, – said earlier the head of the enterprise.

And this DP, by the way, produced more than 90% of all salt in Ukraine.

Will it resonate with Europe?

As Konstantin Yalovoy, a member of the Kyiv City Council, noted, the shutdown of Artemsol will also be felt abroad, because the enterprise supplied salt to 15 countries of the world. Before it was stopped, Ukraine was in the world TOP-20 in salt production.

Is there a replacement and who will suffer?

According to Yalovoy, if rock salt in the kitchen can be completely replaced with sea salt, then in industry there is no such possibility. Food producers will face big problems, because the season of canning vegetables is on the nose.

On top of that, there is a shortage of salt in the chemical industry, as well as in the enterprises responsible for the winter treatment of roads and runways.

In general, in Ukraine, in addition to Artemsol, there are two more well-known (among others) deposits: Slavyanskoye, which is located in the Donetsk region and where the situation is also quite difficult, and Solotvinskoye in Zakarpattia, which, in turn, began to erode after large floods in 1998 and 2001 and generally has outdated production.

Food shortage in Ukraine

In Ukraine this year, a shortage of some vegetables is predicted. This mainly concerns crops that are grown on an industrial scale in the south of the country.

And since the Russians occupied a quarter of the territory of Ukraine, where Bell pepper (and this is 25% on the territory of the Kherson region), the greatest shortage should be expected of this particular vegetable. At the same time, the main part of sweet pepper for sale (93%) was grown in individual farms.

It is because of the occupation that the Ukrainians actually lost their sales markets and their only income, and Ukraine lost most of the crop of heat-loving vegetables.

Recall that consumer inflation in Ukraine on an annualized basis accelerated to 16.4%, since the beginning of this year, prices have increased by 10.9%, and if compared with the month of March, then by 3.1%.

Segodnya also figured out with experts what other goods will be in short supply in Ukraine while the war continues.