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Salt price stable after monopoly ends

China's table-salt price will remain stable and keep within a low price range due to large stockpiles and overcapacity, the country's top economic planner said on Wednesday. Zhao Chenxin, a spokesman for the National Development and Reform Commission, said that China could ensure table-salt supplies even in extreme scenarios, after reforms to the salt system. The government scrapped table-salt price controls, starting from 2017, and ended a state monopoly on the production and sale of table salt, dismantling a 2,000-year-old system. China's table salt reserves stood at 1.55 million metric tons at the end of 2016, Zhao said.