A packet of salt and a billion-dollar accusation

A jar of Himalayan pink salt sits on a supermarket shelf in Europe. Its label promises purity, ancient origins and a connection with the mountains of South Asia. Inside are crystals of rock salt that may have travelled thousands of kilometres from Pakistan’s Punjab province.

Now consider the claim circulating on social media: India buys Pakistan’s pink salt, sells it around the world under the Himalayan name and earns billions of dollars.

I can understand why the story attracts attention in Pakistan. The salt comes from our territory, yet overseas brands can charge prices that seem astonishing compared with the value of the mineral leaving the mine.

The accusation contains a genuine economic question. Unfortunately, the figures used to support it do not establish the claim. India has imported Pakistani pink salt. Indian businesses have processed and marketed it. Pakistani exporters have complained about how some Indian traders presented its origin. But there is no credible evidence that India currently earns billions of dollars a year from reselling this particular product.

The real story is about Pakistan’s place in the international value chain.

The mineral belongs to Pakistan’s Salt Range

The famous pink crystals come primarily from geological deposits in Pakistan’s Salt Range. Khewra, in Jhelum district, is the best-known source, although mining also takes place elsewhere in the region.

The deposits formed through ancient geological processes long before modern national borders appeared. Their colour comes partly from trace minerals, including iron compounds.

Calling the product Himalayan salt is geographically loose. The Salt Range lies south of the main Himalayan mountain system. The commercial name, however, has become familiar to buyers across the world.

The Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation manages the Khewra mine, a working industrial site that also attracts tourists.

Pink salt reaches the market in several forms. Some becomes edible salt for household use. Other quantities go into decorative products, while larger pieces are carved into lamps or blocks.

It is important not to confuse consumer appeal with special medical benefits. Pink salt remains mainly sodium chloride. Its trace minerals do not make excessive sodium consumption safe.

For Pakistan, the more immediate question concerns trade. The country owns a distinctive natural resource. Does it also control how that resource reaches the customer?

What the export figures actually show

According to the World Bank’s WITS trade database, Pakistan exported approximately $76.72 million worth of salt in 2024. The total quantity was nearly 400,000 tonnes.

These figures cover salt and sodium chloride under customs code HS 250100. They do not separate Himalayan pink salt from every other type.

The United States purchased approximately $15.4 million of Pakistan’s salt exports that year. The United Arab Emirates bought about $13 million. Afghanistan, Britain and China were also significant destinations.

The figures expose an important weakness in the viral argument. Even Pakistan’s total salt export revenue remains below $100 million in that year. The global market for branded Himalayan salt may be substantially larger, but those two numbers measure different stages of commerce.

A 2026 study by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) estimates the global Himalayan pink salt market at between $500 million and $1.2 billion.

It would be wrong to present this estimated market value as Indian earnings. It would also be wrong to assume that Pakistan could collect the entire amount simply because the mineral comes from its mines.

International consumer prices include distribution costs, taxes and commercial margins. They also reflect different products sold in different countries. Still, the gap deserves examination.

How India entered Pakistan’s salt business

For decades, Indian traders purchased pink salt from Pakistan.

India offered a substantial domestic market. The product is commonly known there as sendha namak and is widely used during certain Hindu religious fasts.

Importers brought in Pakistani rock salt, then processed and packaged it for Indian consumers. Some Pakistani exporters alleged that Indian businesses also marketed the product abroad without giving appropriate credit to its Pakistani origin.

A June 2025 Al Jazeera investigation documented the trade through interviews with Indian importers and Pakistani exporters.

India imported about 74,457 tonnes of Pakistani pink salt in 2018. By 2024, that volume had declined to approximately 642 tonnes.

The reduction followed worsening trade relations. India imposed a 200 percent tariff on Pakistani goods after the 2019 Pulwama attack. Following the April 2025 Pahalgam attack, New Delhi prohibited imports of Pakistani goods, including imports routed through third countries.

The ban disrupted established salt-trading businesses in India. Traders reported rising prices and supply concerns.

I find the scale of the decline more revealing than the slogans about billions. A trade that had already contracted sharply could not reasonably be treated as evidence of an enormous continuing flow of Pakistani salt through India.

That does not mean re-exporting or misleading branding never occurred. It means a claim about present-day earnings requires current, product-specific evidence. Neither sensational social media posts nor broad Indian salt-export statistics provide it.

The real money lies beyond the mine

Pakistan’s more persistent problem appears when we follow the salt beyond its place of extraction.

PIDE reports that raw Pakistani salt may be exported for approximately $0.15 to $0.30 per kilogram. Branded salt in international retail markets can sell for $8 to $15 per kilogram, depending on the product and outlet.

Consider a simple illustration. Suppose a Pakistani exporter receives 20 cents for a kilogram of salt. A foreign company processes it, packages it in small containers and supplies retailers. Consumers eventually pay $10 for that kilogram. The final retail price is fifty times the initial export price.

This does not mean the foreign company earns $9.80 in profit.

Freight costs money. Packaging materials and labour have to be paid for. Retailers take their margins, while import duties and sales taxes may increase the price further. Some salt also loses weight during processing, and different grades sell at different prices.

Nevertheless, the example identifies where additional economic value can arise. A Pakistani company selling unprocessed salt competes largely on the cost of a commodity. A business selling a finished, reliable food product can compete on quality and its relationship with customers.

Those relationships take years to build.

The challenge is not simply that another country puts its label on Pakistani salt. International trade works through processing and distribution networks. The challenge is that Pakistan has not consistently developed enough of those capabilities around this resource.

A familiar weakness in Pakistan’s export economy

I have encountered this problem in other parts of Pakistan’s trade.

A country may grow the cotton, but the greater commercial rewards often go to businesses that make and sell finished garments under recognised brands.

Pakistan has a substantial textile industry. Yet its struggle to expand higher-value apparel exports shows how difficult it can be to move from industrial capacity to stronger market positioning.

Salt offers a smaller and simpler example of a related problem.

Pakistan can mine and export the mineral. Processing it locally requires food-grade equipment, consistent testing and dependable packaging.

Selling it abroad adds another layer of difficulty. Retail chains need regular deliveries. Importers demand reliable documentation. Buyers may reject a shipment if its specifications differ from what they ordered.

An attractive label cannot compensate for inconsistent standards. Nor can a geographical name substitute for a commercial strategy.

Pakistan has already taken a legal step

The government has recognised the importance of protecting the product’s origin.

Pakistan enacted the Geographical Indication (Registration and Protection) Act in 2020. The Ministry of Commerce’s 2022–23 yearbook confirms that Pink Rock Salt originating in the Salt Range and Potohar region was registered under the country’s geographical indication framework.

A geographical indication helps establish that a product owes its identity or reputation to a recognised geographical origin.

The legal value depends on where protection exists and whether authorities enforce it. A Pakistani registration does not automatically give the product identical protection in every foreign market. Nor does it prohibit an overseas business from importing genuine Pakistani salt and reselling it legally.

Origin protection and commercial development must therefore proceed together.

Pakistan needs clear identification standards that foreign buyers can verify. It also needs exporters capable of delivering finished products in commercial quantities.

The law can protect a name. It cannot manufacture a distribution network.

Can Pakistan capture more of the international market?

The answer depends on the business model.

One approach would encourage more Pakistani companies to export washed, graded and packaged salt rather than large quantities of unprocessed material. Another would support exporters that manufacture finished consumer goods for international retailers.

These are not identical strategies. A supplier producing salt for a foreign supermarket’s private label may earn more than a raw-material exporter without bearing the full cost of building a global brand.

An independent Pakistani brand could potentially earn more per unit, but it would also face marketing expenses and the risk of unsold stock.

The government has a role in certification and access to export markets. Private businesses must then establish dependable production systems.

There is another complication. If Pakistan restricts raw salt exports before domestic processors can absorb the supply, miners and existing exporters may lose business. Higher-value manufacturing cannot emerge by regulation alone.

A sensible policy would measure the costs of processing locally against the prices that buyers are willing to pay. It should also distinguish edible salt from decorative or industrial products. Those markets have different standards and commercial opportunities.

The missing financial question

When Pakistan debates exports, public attention often settles on the total dollars earned. That figure matters. But I think it is incomplete.

A country should also ask how much domestic value a particular export creates.

Does the sale support skilled processing jobs? Are Pakistani companies developing long-term relationships with international buyers? How much of the final product is manufactured inside Pakistan?

Such questions go beyond pink salt. Foreign exchange from raw exports is useful. More domestic processing could create additional economic activity, provided that firms can sell their output profitably.

We should not confuse a higher retail price abroad with money automatically lost by Pakistan. Much of the difference pays for services performed after export.

The opportunity is to perform more of those economically valuable services at home.

Beyond the argument about India

India’s historic involvement in the trade is documented. The collapse in bilateral salt shipments is also documented.

What remains unproven is the claim that India currently earns billions of dollars every year by reselling Pakistan’s Himalayan pink salt.

Pakistan should challenge misleading descriptions of origin wherever evidence supports such action. But blaming India for the entire difference between mine prices and foreign retail prices would misunderstand how consumer markets work.

A jar of salt on a European supermarket shelf has passed through a chain of businesses. Pakistan currently receives revenue at one or more points along that chain. It has an opportunity to earn more if its producers can expand into processing and international sales.

I would rather see a serious government report showing how much Pakistani value has been added per kilogram than another speech celebrating the mineral wealth beneath our soil.

The salt has been there for millions of years.

The commercial opportunity will not wait indefinitely.