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US company plans $200m pink salt facility

We should not allow this company. It will empty our salt reserves in a few years and take the whole profit and we will be left with nothing. It looks like Musharraf's scheme of introducing CNG for cars which depleted the gas reserves in Pakistan and now we don't even have gas for cooking.
 
We should not allow this company. It will empty our salt reserves in a few years and take the whole profit and we will be left with nothing. It looks like Musharraf's scheme of introducing CNG for cars which depleted the gas reserves in Pakistan and now we don't even have gas for cooking.

Facepalm, bro.

Following link provides better information:

 
Pink Salt is Pakistani product. All packaging I see now has ‘Product of Pakistan’ written on it.

Pakistani entrepreneurs have upped their game in recent times and have been marketing pink salt as just not a raw product but a wellness product, getting better returns than before. Part of evolution.

Processing and packaging pink salt further and moving up the value chain is part of evolution. If a US company wants to setup a processing and packaging plant in Pakistan, it’s a welcome step. Seems the US company also have Pakistani members.

I believe the company will procure the salt locally, process, package and then export to foreign countries. It will be a win win. There will be investment, skills development, jobs and increased exports.

There is room for local Pakistanis to setup their operations as well.
 
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FDI does not come for free but is supposed to be a mutually beneficial arrangement for the countries involved. Appropriate legal framework should exist to facilitate FDI and make sure that Pakistan benefits from it. And government should explain to the Public why a certain deal is taking place (element of transparency).

But Pakistani have the unfortunate habit of politicizing FDI. Remember Riko Dek scandal? Any lesson learned from this episode?

Simple natural resource? Do you know that the British Empire established Himalayan Pink Salt mining facility in the Khewra region? Pakistan inherited this facility from the British to do the needful, but sold it to India in raw form at cheap rates as pointed out in here.

Mining is not in question, processing and conversion of Himalayan Pink Salt for consumption in the form of packaged goods is important in order to meet EXPORT requirements as per international standards. Standard Salts has opened a plant for processing and conversion of Himalayan Pink Salt to do the needful as noted in here. But this company does not have a setup in US. Now Miracle Saltworks Collective Inc. has offered to open a plant for processing and conversion of Himalayan Pink Salt to do the needful. Pakistan is getting plants and job opportunities from these deals.

Currently, Pakistan is earning only $70 million a year from this unique natural resource due to the lack of a policy framework and the absence of adequate facilities for processing, packaging and distribution.

Briefing the ambassador, President MSCI Ahmed N. Khan said that a multi-pronged solution, featuring public-private partnership under a clearly defined policy was being worked out to assist the government in enhancing pink salt exports.


FDI and Investment are like holy keywords for you, they must be good wherever however they are coming.
FDI is needed for manufacturing and developing technology, not for exporting resources that we already have.
Do you even know what 'standards' are required to be met for salt and how is it so complex? It is just a natural mineral, not a medicine or meat or fruit.
 
WASHINGTON: A leading American company plans to invest nearly $200 million in curating, processing, distributing, and importing pink Himalayan salt from Pakistan, officials said.

The Miracle Saltworks Collective Inc (MSCI) conveyed its interest to the Ambassador of Pakistan Masood Khan at a meeting in Washington on Friday and shared their investment plans with him.

An embassy official told journalists that the company was willing to invest in the entire process — from mining to bringing it to the United States.

The company will also prepare feasibility and reserve reports and will upgrade mining procedures and processes. The plan includes the construction of a world-class processing and packaging facility at the mining site and community development programmes.

Pakistan has huge reserves of pink salt with a potential earning of $12 billion annually. An embassy press release said the country possesses approximately 22.22 billion tonnes of the natural resource, concentrated mostly in Salt Range areas of Kala Bagh, Warcha, Khewra and Bahadur Khel.

“The salt mines have an immense potential of kick-starting massive economic activity in the country,” the statement added.

The delegation included the company’s president and CEO Ahmed N. Khan, Vice President Mr. Tad M. Ballantyne, and members of its governing board.

Currently, Pakistan is earning only $70 million a year from this unique natural resource due to the lack of a policy framework and the absence of adequate facilities for processing, packaging and distribution.

Briefing the ambassador, President MSCI Ahmed N. Khan said that a multi-pronged solution, featuring public-private partnership under a clearly defined policy was being worked out to assist the government in enhancing pink salt exports.

The new policy would also encourage the private sector to take a lead role in exploiting the existing potential.

Company officials said that they were undertaking a joint venture with Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation and plan to raise market awareness to reach 10 million tonnes of verified extraction by 2030.

Two world-class processing and distribution facilities would be established in Doha and China to fulfil global demand for the product. Ambassador Masood Khan informed the team that the government was committed to providing every possible facilitation to international investors and business communities intending to invest in traditional and non-traditional sectors. Highlighting various steps taken for promoting ease of doing business and restoring investor confidence, the ambassador said that Pakistan had a unique geostrategic location and could serve as a vast market for Central and West Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa.

He said that there was a huge market for pink salt not only in the region but across the world which guaranteed profitable business ventures in the sector.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2023

pink salt - $12 billion ?? It is more a niche product. I have used it once. I do not plan to use it on a sustained basis because it lacks iodine
Needless to say it is far more expensive than salt produced in USA
 
Some of you comment on a topic without doing any homework.

Pink Salt was being sold to India in its raw form at very low prices and Indian companies process and refine it for local consumption as well as for EXPORTS to other countries under Made in Indian tagging. This is profiteering at the expense of Pakistan.

Before the suspension of trade between the two countries, the salt was being imported by Indian traders and re-exported in small and attractive packs at exorbitant prices to the European Union, United States, and even the far East, with labels showing that this salt was a product of the Indian Himalayas. While Pakistan sold the original Khewra salt for Rs. 70 per kg, the Indian traders were reselling it overseas at around Rs. 800- 1,000 per kg.


Pakistan now have the opportunity to export Pink Salt to the US directly with support of Miracle Saltworks Collective Inc.


This is good news and a step in the right direction.

Pakistan should find more customers.
We know how US and foreign companies work they rip you off give the big bone to some Govt official for mining rights and some to local elites end of story.

No foreign involvement best solution should be give the contract to a local private company for exports or a Army corporation even though i have lost faith in the army still they do a better job than Govt run companies.

Facepalm, bro.

Following link provides better information:

Is this some miracle article all it said that india was scamming Pakistan through under the table dealings with local suppliers however that chapter has been closed since 2016 the export rights to the mine were strictly given to a local company which has proper export administration setup and Pakistan is getting its due diligence for its own resources.

America should F off.
 
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If things are done right


Middle Man will not make their 5-7% cut


That is why they can't even dig up a hole in ground
 

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