Laying a cover of sand on the field before letting sea water in. A new way of harvesting clean salt. 18-year-old Nguyen Thi Thoa joins her family in retrieving salt in Hai Hau District, Nam Dinh Province.  Vietnam has potential for salt production. The product is not only for domestic consumption but also for export. A grain of salt, lots of sweat! Break time for salt workers.  Carrying salt to the stores. On the way to the salt field in Hai Hau District. Pumping sea water to the salt fields by Vinh Hao Salt Joint-Stock Company. A worker from Vinh Hao Salt Joint-Stock Company works on the salt field. Harvesting salt with a mechanized chain. Collecting salt at Vinh Hao Salt Joint-Stock Company. Vietnam has 3,260km of coastline which provides a limitless source for salt production. Salt is a commodity for export and a material used in the production of some chemicals. Yet, Vietnam finds it necessary to import salt. On a scorching day in late July of 2008 we visited a salt-making area in the central coastal region. Talking with the salt workers we learned about the steps taken to gather salt from the sea and the hardships involved in this strenuous work. In short, sea water is directed into fields and left for 10 days to evaporate, leaving only the white mineral which is then moved to another area to dry under the hot sun. Sixty-year-old Tran Thi Mit from the salt-producing village of Tri Hai in Ninh Thuan Province’s Ninh Hai District has been doing this work since she was 15 years old. “Salt making is a painstaking job. The workers have to endlessly toil in the fields to eke out a meagre reward."  Mit’s family has nearly 2,000m2 of salt fields and they have to work diligently to be able to get by. If the weather cooperates they can produce over 150 tonnes of salt a year which sells at 300,000 – 400,000 VND a tonne and the net income is only enough to cover eight months of household’s yearly expenses. In the rainy season they have to undertake other jobs, such as construction work, transporting fish, etc., to earn their living. Nguyen Huu Hung, 58 years old, in the salt-producing village of Ninh Chu in Ninh Thuan Province said: “To get salt from the sea, the more scorching the weather, the more favourable it is for the job.” He has been involved in this job for 40 years and experienced both happiness and sorrow. He said there was a time when the vocation was going through a difficult time and shrimp-raising prospered, so the salt workers broke up their fields to build pools for raising shrimp. When the price of shrimp fell or a shrimp disease broke out, they demolished the ponds and returned to the salt production. Last year on an area of 0.5ha his family achieved a good harvest of 200 tonnes of salt which was sold at 300,000 VND/ a tonne, earning a profit of 20 million VND for his family of six. Since the beginning of this year he has harvested 80 tonnes of salt and fortunately, due to its higher price this season (1.5 million VND/ a tonne) he earned 80 million VND. Salt-producing greatly depends on the weather. If there is an abundance of sunshine and little rain the farmers will have good harvests. The price of salt also fluctuates depending on the seasons, making the farmers’ life unstable. This season's high price for the mineral obviously put smiles on the workers’ faces but they are also anxious about the news that Vietnam will spend foreign currency on importing hundreds of tonnes of salt this year. They wonder how the domestic salt market will be and if their efforts in salt production will be compensated appropriately. Situated in the northernmost reach of Binh Thuan Province, Tuy Phong District has a large fishing ground with its 50km of coastline. It is also known for salt-producing. Here, a large amount of salt is produced by Vinh Hao Salt Joint-Stock Company (VIHASAL), a major salt producer in Vietnam. VIHASAL has nearly 600ha of salt fields with a capacity of 60,000 tonnes a year. It takes the lead in the country in investing in the equipment and technology for salt production. In 2001 the Company produced nearly 40,000 tonnes of salt and the output increased to nearly 69,000 tonnes in 2002. Its products meet required standards and are highly competitive. Since the beginning of this year, as there has been much rain, the Company had poor crops and earned a net profit of 20 billion VND. As planed, by 2010 the Company will increase its production fields to over 1,000ha. In addition, it will use the remaining substance on the field to produce more products such as mouthwash, gypsum, etc., as well as improve the environment and establish a sea eco-tourism area. Answering a query as to why Vietnam with its great potential for salt production still has to import salt, Phan Van Dao, General Director of Vinh Hao Salt Joint-Stock Company said that over the years the areas reserved for salt production in localities are unstable. Some areas for industrial production of salt are becoming industrial zones and tourist sites, which is in contradiction with the salt production plan approved by the Prime Minister. Some coastal localities are not interested in developing the trade because it requires a large production area while revenue from salt is small. As a result, the investment for infrastructure development and support for the salt workers are limited. We visited the salt field of the Quan The Project near Ca Na Bay (Ninh Thuan Province), an area having the country’s most beautiful landscape. Dang Van Hien, Deputy Director of Ninh Thuan provincial branch of the Ha Long Investment and Development Company (BIM) – the newest investor of the project, said: “The Quan The Project was aimed at producing the largest amount of refined salt in the country. In the initial period, it had a production area of 2,500ha and planned to provide an annual amount of 308,000 tonnes of salt material of international standards for industrial production, over 20,000 tonnes of gypsum and 185,000m3 of Nuoc ot (the remaining liquid on the salt field after salt is crystallized). However, after 10 years of implementing the project, Vietnam National Salt Corporation (VISALCO) could not reach the target. That was one of the reasons for Vietnam’s lack of salt.” In 2005, the Prime Minister decided to withdraw the project from VISALCO and hand it over to BIM. Now the Project, capitalized at 100 million USD, has been 85% implemented. It has 1,700ha of fields and officially went into operation in late April of 2009. BIM will add another 1,000ha to the production area in compensation for the Ca Na salt field of 600ha which has been allotted to a steel-producing project - the largest in Vietnam, in Ca Na Bay. Also, BIM will invest 500 million USD in building a 150-ha industrial zone for processing chemicals. When completed the Quan The Project will provide over 500,000 tonnes of refined salt in service of the industry and for export. It is a promising sign for the development of the Vietnamese salt sector.  Quality check of salt at Vinh Hao Salt Joint-Stock Company. Modern technology to refine salt by water is used at Vinh Hao Salt Joint-Stock Company. According to Vietnam National Salt Corporation (VISALCO), each year Vietnam needs 1,1-1.2 million tonnes of salt, including 500,000 tonnes of salt for human and animal consumption and the remaining for industrial processing and other purposes. In the 1996-2006 period, the country’s average salt output was 737,000 tonnes, with the highest output being 980,000 tonnes in 1998. Every year Vietnam has to import about 200,000 tonnes of industrial salt and will import over 400,000 tonnes this year. Tran Xuan Hoa, Deputy Chairman of Ninh Thuan Provincial People’s Committee said: “Investing in the salt sector will double the opportunities for Ninh Thuan Province because supplying millions of tonnes of salt in the coming time, Ninh Thuan will become the country’s salt capital. Salt will be the best and most effective way for the Province to develop industry, creating tens of thousands of jobs for the labourers and contributing to its sustainable socio-economic development.” It is expected that by 2010 Ninh Thuan Province will reach an output of 588,000 tonnes of salt including 540,000 tonnes of industrial salt, meeting 30% of the country’s demand. Story by Huu Thanh - Photos by Kim Son, Minh Quoc, Huu Thanh, Trung Kien