- Title: Crimeans gather new harvest of pink salt for export to Russia
- Date: 17th October 2019
- Summary: YEVPATORIA, CRIMEA (OCTOBER 12, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CRYSTALS OF PINK SALT IN SASYK-SIVASH LAKE VARIOUS OF EXCAVATOR COLLECTING PINK SALT PINK SALT BEING COLLECTED INTO WAGONS PINK SALT PRODUCTION SITE VARIOUS OF MOUND OF PINK SALT (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) TECHNOLOGIST OF "GALIT" COMPANY, YURI LITVINOV, SAYING / HOLDING PINK SALT CRYSTALS: "This salt smells like violets. (LITVINOV SMELLING SALT) Beautiful pink salt." PINK SALT CRYSTALS IN LITVINOV'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) TECHNOLOGIST OF "GALIT" COMPANY, YURI LITVINOV, SAYING: "This salt is perfect in every way. This is the last authorised salt field. There used to be four or five companies here, but they all disappeared." MOUND OF PINK SALT (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) TECHNOLOGIST OF "GALIT" COMPANY, YURI LITVINOV, SAYING: "When we were part of Ukraine, we sold lots of salt. We made salt bricks for salt rooms, sent them to Poland, to America. Now it stopped - I don't know why, maybe it will get better over time." VARIOUS OF PINK SALT CRYSTALS MOUND / WORKERS ON TOP OF MOUND VARIOUS OF PINK SALT CRYSTALS TRAIN WITH WAGONS FILLED WITH PINK SALT DRIVING LAKE WITH SLIGHTLY PINK WATER
- Embargoed: 31st October 2019 09:17
- Keywords: pink salt Crimea pink salt Sasyk-Sivash Lake Crimea peninsula
- Location: YEVPATORIA, CRIMEA
- City: YEVPATORIA, CRIMEA
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Environment
- Reuters ID: LVA001B1HK9Y1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: As the summer heat gives way to milder autumn temperatures, a local enterprise at Sasyk-Sivash Lake in Crimea gathers a harvest of pink salt.
Employees of salt harvesting company Galit say that salt is sweet to the taste, like violets, raspberry or carrot. The light pink tint is caused by a tiny algae, Dunaliella Salina, which grows in the lake waters and produces beta-carotene coloured pigment.
During the seasonal harvest, traders of Galit collect thousands of tons of salt, which has long been considered a valuable commodity, thanks to its unusual aroma and colour.
Global Market Insights forecasted an increase in demand for gourmet salt globally, according to a market research report from 2019. It is used in food, the cosmetics industry and spa treatments.
Galit production engineer Yuri Litvinov told Reuters that some salt production companies had recently disappeared from the Crimean market. According to Litvinov, Galit is the last authorised company left on the peninsula.
Litvinov said the company used to sell more salt, as it was in strong demand from the U.S. and European countries. But since 2014, the exports have been going mainly to Russia, he added.
Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Kiev in 2014. Crimea has been cut off from its economic links to Ukraine, as well as to lots of Western and American enterprises. The European Union and the United States Western countries have imposed economic sanctions on Russia over the annexation.
(Production: Anastasia Adasheva) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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