Salt monopoly has been going on for nearly 20 years. In 1990s, in order to achieve the goal of "eliminating iodine deficiency disorders by 2000", China popularized iodized salt as soon as possible. 1994, the State Council issued a document agreeing to "salt monopoly". In a specific historical stage, the salt monopoly system has played a positive role in eliminating the harm of iodine deficiency in China. However, from the international experience, the popularization of iodized salt is not necessarily related to salt monopoly. According to the statistics of the International Council for the Prevention and Treatment of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (ICCIDD), there are more than 30 countries in the world with iodized salt coverage rate exceeding 90%, and only a few countries such as China implement the salt monopoly system.
2. Ensure the safety of salt for residents.
China National Salt Corporation has emphasized on many occasions that the implementation of salt monopoly is for the food safety of consumers and also to prevent the penetration of industrial salt. However, the impurities in industrial salt are basically water, there are no more heavy metals than edible salt, and there is no sodium nitrite. The purpose of banning industrial salt consumption is to make huge profits in salt industry, not because industrial salt is harmful.
Because industrial salt sometimes refers to sodium nitrite, the so-called accidental ingestion of industrial salt poisoning is accidental ingestion of sodium nitrite, and the "industrial salt poisoning" promoted by the salt industry all the year round is also an accidental ingestion of sodium nitrite. Industrial salt is compared with sodium nitrite, which seems to be intentionally confused. A salt industry expert said, "Industrial salt has been hyped and demonized into toxic substances for a long time, which is largely a propaganda to maintain the franchise system of the salt industry system."
3. Ensure the national fiscal revenue.
In the history of China, salt franchise has a long history. At that time, financial officials insisted on franchising mainly for tax reasons, because it was indispensable to the people. Controlling salt controls the lifeblood of tax revenue. However, with the development of society, the contribution of salt industry to tax revenue is not what it used to be, and the role of salt monopoly in increasing fiscal revenue is decreasing: the percentage of salt tax in national tax revenue has dropped from 5.49% in 1950 to 0.04% in 2006. In practice, salt monopoly is often a combination of government and enterprise, that is, "one institution, two brands", and local salt companies undertake the functions of industry management and supervision and law enforcement. This has brought many disadvantages.
1. Monopoly leads to corruption. Due to the implementation of the salt monopoly system and the formation of a closed monopoly system, China Salt Company and local salt companies are both athletes and referees, which have huge interests and are prone to corruption. Salt companies use the planned distribution right to control salt-making enterprises, and the left hand buys salt at a low price and the right hand sells salt at a high price, and the price has increased by four or five times. At the same time, the national market is divided by land distribution, resulting in different prices of goods.
2. The system is rigid and the staff is overstaffed. The person in charge of China Salt Industry Association said frankly that the salt industry has formed a strong planned color due to its long-term franchise and lack of market awareness. The salt company has a rigid system and aging personnel, and is still managed according to the administrative company model. Many cadres and workers have a deep-rooted concept of iron rice bowl. According to the data released by Hebei Salt Monopoly Group Company, there are more than 60 salt monopoly enterprises 160 in the whole province, with 96 over-employees 1370, resulting in overstaffing of some units, declining economic benefits, and some even losing money for a long time.
3. Low resource utilization rate. Due to the disjointed production and marketing, there is no direct connection between enterprises and the market, which leads to the problems of weak overall competitiveness of the salt industry and serious waste of resources. Salt-making enterprises implement the salt monopoly plan. Without the trademark and brand of the product, it is impossible to enter the market and trade directly with consumers. It can only be allocated to salt companies as planned. Salt-making enterprises mainly make single salt, and the utilization rate of resources is very low.