From Sunday, China's long campaign to make sprawling state-owned industries more efficient will stretch beyond commodities like coal and steel into one of the most ancient markets of all - the salt trade.
As of January 1, nearly 80 salt producers and traders from across the mainland will be able to sell their wares in Beijing for the first time ever. The capital is implementing plans drawn up earlier this year by the central government to dissolve a monopoly that goes back centuries.
As part of its liberalization commitment, the government has said it will encourage consolidation among wholesalers and producers - the country has more than 2,000 salt makers, according to the China Salt Association - as well as injection of private cash into state-controlled firms.
"The salt industry will be consolidated in the coming years," said an industry regulator, who declined to say how many salt makers might be merged or shut down.
Under new rules published this week, some 79 registered traders from other provinces will be allowed to enter the city's market alongside 16 Beijing- based wholesalers.
The capital is one of 13 cities and provinces stretching from Tianjin to Inner Mongolia that have received central government approval to open up their edible salt markets to other regional producers and wholesalers who were previously restricted to operating in their local areas. The changes are designed to dismantle price controls and distribution channels in a business dominated by the state-owned China National Salt Industry Corp, which had revenues of 21.25 billion yuan (HK$23.69 billion) in 2015, down from 32.43 billion yuan a year earlier.
One of its subsidiaries currently controls the capital's salt market.
China produced 88 tonnes of salt last year, 10 percent of which was edible.
REUTERS
