How to Choose Salt for Business: A Complete Buyer's Guide
Why bother understanding salt?
It seems simple — salt is salt, a white substance in a bag. But when you're responsible for procurement at a business, choosing the wrong type costs real money. We've seen boiler rooms serving 200 apartments shut down because of wrong salt in the water softener. Or restaurants fined for using technical salt instead of food-grade.
This guide is for those buying salt not for home cooking, but for business operations.
Step 1: Define your use case
Sounds obvious, but half the mistakes start here. Main scenarios:
- Water treatment — boiler rooms, industrial filters, household softeners. Requires tablet or granulated salt NaCl 99.5%+.
- Food production & HoReCa — bakeries, meat processing, restaurants. Only food-grade salt with DSTU, FSSC 22000 certificates.
- De-icing — HOAs, shopping malls, road services. Technical salt (halite), lower purity acceptable.
- Chemical industry — soda, chlorine, paint production. Specialized technical salt grades.
- Pools & SPA — for chlorine generators, needs salt without iodine, NaCl 99.5%+.
Step 2: Understand salt types
Tablet salt
Pressed tablets 15-25mm diameter. Dissolves slowly and evenly — perfect for softener brine tanks. Three dominant brands in Ukraine:
| Brand | Country | NaCl | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| QEMETICA (Ciech) | Poland | 99.5% | Dense tablet, slow dissolution. Market gold standard. |
| SAREROM | Romania | 99.8% | Highest purity, slightly softer tablet. |
| Safir / BSK | Turkey | 99.5% | Budget option. Stable quality, more brittle tablet. |
Food salt
Subtypes: rock salt (various grinds), extra (fine, 99.7%+ purity), iodized. For HoReCa — usually extra in 25 kg bags. For meat processing — rock salt grind #1 or #2.
Technical salt
NaCl 95-98%, may contain clay and sand impurities. Significantly cheaper. Main use — de-icing roads and sidewalks, chemical industry. Absolutely not suitable for food or water treatment.
Step 3: Determine volume and frequency
This affects price more than you'd think. The difference between retail and wholesale on tablet salt can be 15-25%.
- 1-4 bags — retail price
- 5-20 bags — first wholesale discount (5-10%)
- 1-5 tons — serious wholesale pricing
- 20+ tons — individual pricing, direct manufacturer contracts possible
Step 4: Verify documentation
For food production this is critical. Your supplier should provide: certificate of conformity, quality passport per batch, FSSC 22000 / ISO 9001 certificates, VAT invoice.
Common procurement mistakes
- Buying cheapest salt for softeners — technical salt clogs ion-exchange resin. Filter repair costs 10x the "savings".
- Not planning winter stock — de-icing salt in December-January either runs out or costs 30-50% more.
- Ignoring storage conditions — salt is hygroscopic. Open-air storage turns bags into stone blocks.
- Not verifying the supplier — some resellers sell technical salt labeled as "food extra". Always demand original manufacturer certificates.
If unsure about your choice — contact our manager. We'll find the optimal option for your specific task and budget.