If you think salt is nothing more than a little jar of pixie dust in the kitchen, this list of the 8 countries that produce the most salt in the world will prove to you that there is a global, billion dollar industry in this beloved condiment.
Salt is one of the world’s most important minerals mined, with key uses not just in the food industry but also in many processes – with as many as 14,000 uses to be exact. For one, it is an integral de-icing agent for roads in countries that experience heavy winters. The largest salt mines are spread across North America, South and Central America, Europe, and Asia.
There are different types of salt production techniques that yield different types of salts (rock salt, sea/solar salt, evaporated salt). For this list, we have used the combined, non-specified production estimates that do not segregate whether the produced salts of a specific kind.
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We have used the most credible figures for this list, curated from the data of the United States Geological Survey for 2012. Figures for other years are either unavailable or lack any comparable data from other credible sources.
So, what are the countries that produce the most salt in the world? Are they also the countries that consume the most salt? Read on to find out!
8. Chile
8,060,000 metric tons
At the center of Chile’s massive salt production industry is the Salar de Atacama, the largest salt flat in Chile and the third largest in the world. It is surrounded by several active volcanoes. The salt flats in Central Chile, Boyeruca, and Cahuil, are the sites of Chilean artisanal salt production, with locals producing salt traditionally for longer than 500 years.
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5. Mexico
10,800,000 metric tons
With an average of 9,000,000 metric tons of salt produced a year, a salinera (salt flat) amounting to over 33,000 acres – 28,000 of which are collection ponds, there is no doubt that Mexico’s salt production facility near Guerrero Negro in Baja California region makes it one of the countries that produce the most salt in the world. Salt is considered Mexico’s white gold for its global value.
5. Australia
10,800,000 metric tons
Australia’s salt mining industry is centered in Southern and Western Australia. Southern Australia used to produce 80% of all the salt produce of the country, but as the mines in Western Australia have gotten bigger, production has also been distributed almost equally between the two Australian regions.
5. Canada
10,800,000 metric tons
Canada has the largest operating salt mine in the world. Located in the town of Goderich, four hours from downtown Toronto, the Goderich mine is 533 meters deep underground. The mind produces mostly salt used in roads; a separate brine extracting facility produces food-grade salt. This salt mine and the smaller ones in operation in the area tap into an ancient underground seabed.
4. Germany
11,900,000 metric tons
Fourth in the list of countries that produce the most salt in the world is Germany. The Euro economic giant has two major salt production areas – Reichenhall and Berchtesgaden – both born of ancient and traditional salt production techniques that have evolved into state-of-the-art facilities. Many of the other salt mines throughout Germany produce less quantity or have remained as museums or salt mine tour sites.
3. India
17,000,000 metric tons
India’s salt industry is spectacular not only in the diversity and number of sources throughout the nation but by how much it has grown. Before 1947, India only imports salt mainly from the UK to keep up with its domestic demand. Upon earning its independence, India rose to the top ranks of the countries that produce the most salt in the world thanks to its abundant sources (marine, sub-soil brine, lake brine, and rock salt deposits).
2. United States
37,200,000 metric tons
The US production of salt accounts for about 15% of the global salt production, putting it in the second spot on our list of the 8 countries that produce the most salt in the world. But of all its produce, the US only uses 5% of its total production for food-grade salt uses; 95% of all the salt it produces is used in chemical processes (i.e. chlorine production) and de-icing icy roads.
1. China
70,000,000 metric tons
China’s salt production accounts for over 27% of the world’s total salt production. It is, without a doubt, the country that produces the most salt in the world. In 2011, through the state-owned China National Salt Industry Corporation, China produced the largest amount of table salt in the world. The said company controlled the monopoly of (edible) salt production in China since 1950 until the monopoly was broken by the government at the beginning of 2016.
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