SALT AND IODINE

All things are interrelated in our life - economic interests often form political decisions, or on the contrary, someone's political position determines their involvement in this or that economic project. Sometimes social and even purely domestic problems force politicians and economists to join efforts and take serious steps.

Did you know that low quality salt may reduce the country's national income by five per cent? Yes, this is the danger faced by Azerbaijan in the near future, if we do not take serious measures to improve the quality of salt and ensure that it contains a sufficient amount of iodine, according to UNICEF representatives.

Threat to the future

No matter how incredible it sounds, but the head of the UNICEF office in Azerbaijan, Hanaa Singer, has officially said that Azerbaijan may lose five per cent of its national income if most of its population continues to use non-iodized salt. The thing is that scientists from various countries have carried out a lot of surveys, proving that the average IQ indicator in regions with a clear shortage of iodine is 15-20 per cent lower. In most areas affected by goitre, some of the population shows signs of cretinism. Such heavy consequences of the iodine shortage occur if iodine consumption is below 20-40 mkg a day. This means that in the future, the country will face a lack of specialists - the main driving force of the economy.

However, the situation in this sphere has considerably improved in our country over the last few years. If in 2000 only 45 per cent of Azerbaijani citizens consumed iodized salt, in 2007, their number increased to 77 per cent, according to Singer. "We achieved this by improving the legislative base, supporting salt manufacturers and carrying out educational measures and monitoring. At the same time, the main purpose of all interested sides is to ensure that 90 per cent of the population uses iodized salt. "After that, the country will be able to get rid of diseases caused by the lack of iodine and get a relevant certificate. To this end, we have to ensure that iodized salt is used in all spheres of the food industry, as well as in animal food," Singer said.

Azerbaijan has adopted a great number of various programmes on mandatory salt iodization. For example, in 2001 a programme and in 2002 a law on mandatory iodization were adopted. In 2003, a ban was imposed on the import of non-iodized salt into Azerbaijan. However, it turned out that this was not enough.

Recently the state service to monitor the consumer market at the Ministry of Economic Development surveyed the country's salt market. According to the head of the service, Xaliq Mammadov, the survey covered 18 types of salt of which only five had a normal concentration of iodine. The concentration of iodine in eight of them was low. It was impossible to monitor the other types of salt as there was no information about their origin. We also discovered that salt in Azerbaijan is made in illegal workshops that do not observe environmental or hygienic norms. "We also discovered that some of the salt put on sale as a foreign product was in fact made in these illegal workshops inside the country," Mammadov said.

Today's problem

It must be noted that 21 legal entities and private individuals are currently engaged in salt production in Azerbaijan. They are mainly concentrated near the salt-rich lake Masazir. According to some information, about one million t of salt are extracted here annually. Most of the manufacturers use crude methods to refine this product. Salt is delivered from the lake to small workshops and unloaded on the ground. Then it is washed, refined and packaged. As a result, this "pure" product ends up in shops.

Minister of Economic Development Heydar Babayev admits that although relevant bodies have created a mechanism of controlling the quality and security of food industry products, there is a need to improve the certification of products, quality monitoring and the system of state control over its export. In his opinion, in order to improve the situation it is necessary to build several salt producing plants and bolster state support for businessmen by means of privileged loans to replace out-of-date equipment.

The first step in this direction will be taken in the near future. An iodized salt factory is being built near the lake Masazir outside Baku. According to the executive director of the Azerbaijan Investment Company, Anar Axundov, 10 million manats will be invested in the establishment of the Azerbaijan Salt Factory closed-type joint-stock company. Twenty-five per cent of the shares will belong to the AIC and 75 per cent to Azersun Holding. "The main thing the AIC will focus on as a co-owner of the enterprise is installing modern equipment at the factory. Negotiations on this issue have been completed, and we have reached agreement with a well-known Swiss company about that," Axundov said. The capacity of the factory will be 100 t of salt per day and 30,000 t per year.

The Azerbaijani population's demand for iodized salt is 35,000-40,000 t today. The factory the construction of which is in progress will be put into operation by the end of 2008. If by that time the government tightens control over other salt manufacturers and salt import into Azerbaijan, the problem will probably be solved by 2010.