"According to the report we received on Saturday evening, for the time being the company has bought 10,000 tons of salt from farmers," PT Garam spokesman Farid Zahid said here on Saturday.
He said the company was planning to buy 200,000 to 250,000 tons of salt from farmers in East Java, Central Java and West Java provinces this year.
"Of the total, 100,000 tons will be bought from farmers in Sumenep, Pamekasan, and Sampang. However, to realize the plan we still have to consider conditions in the field, particularly the quality of local farmers` salt," he said.
Nearly 7,500 tons of 10,000 tons of salt bought from farmers in the three district were of first quality (KW-1) and 2,500 tons were of second quality (KW-2), he said.
"The amount of salt we have bought from farmers in Madura still falls short of the target due in part to low production. Hopefully, the weather will be favorable so we can buy salt from local farmers according to our target," he said.
He said PT Garam bought salt of first quality for Rp600 a kg and salt of second quality for Rp500 a kg from the farmers.
The government has set the price of first quality salt at Rp750 a kg and that of second quality salt at Rp550 a kg. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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