On August 24, a rush of buying up salt began to appear in many Chinese cities after Fukushima’s nuclear power plant in Japan released nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean. On August 25, the reporter learned from the southwestern branch of Hubei Salt Group Co., Ltd. in Yichang that there are 3,000 tons of salt reserves for the Yichang market, enough for the whole city for three months. The panic-buying is unnecessary. Citizens should not believe in and spread the rumor.

　　In the company factory, the reporter saw that bags of salt were stacked neatly like a hill, and the workers were carrying them on the forklift to load on trucks and send to various places. To ensure the adequate salt supply, the company has strengthened distribution to meet the needs of supermarkets and citizens in urban areas.

　　On August 24, the China Salt Group made a statement on the guarantee of salt supply in the market. The statement reads that China’s salt sources include well salt, lake salt, and sea salt. At present, 87% salt products in China are well salt, 10% are sea salt and 3% are lake salt, of which the production of well salt and lake salt is not affected by Japan’s nuclear pollution.

　　On August 25, Hubei Salt Group made a statement that the province’s salt reserves were sufficient to ensure daily demands, and citizens did not need to snap up salt. According to the statement, Hubei province is one of the main production areas of China’s well salt, with abundant resources and ranking second in the country in terms of total storage. The annual production capacity of raw salt is over 6 million tons, ranking third nationwide. The annual production capacity of salt is over 1.5 million tons, with well salt accounting for over 90%. The source of the salt comes from deep underground mines, meeting the demand within the province and also being sold overseas.

　　Hubei Salt Group is assigned by the provincial government the responsibility of reserving salt for the province. It has built eight large reserve warehouses within the province, with an annual salt reserve of 30,000 tons. Its branch institutions cover administrative areas at or above the county level throughout the province, and it has a market supply system that covers both urban and rural areas. It has fulfilled its responsibility as a state-owned enterprise, effectively ensuring the safe supply of salt in the province during various market fluctuations. (Reporter/Zhao Guoqiang, Trainee Reporter/Han Lu)