NTT salt estate trials begin as Indonesia targets zero imports by 2029

Jakarta — Indonesia is aiming to stop all salt imports by 2029 while ramping up domestic output around a new salt industrial zone in Rote Ndao, East Nusa Tenggara, where 616 hectares of ponds have entered production trials and a first harvest is targeted for November 2026, according to government communications chief Muhammad Qodari and multiple Indonesian media reports.

The plan links national self-sufficiency targets to the Kawasan Sentra Industri Garam Nasional (KSIGN) in Rote Ndao, a project that officials say will eventually cover 2,000 hectares under direct government development and form part of a wider salt expansion area of about 10,764 hectares in NTT.

What the Rote Ndao project includes

Qodari has described KSIGN Rote Ndao as a national salt industry hub involving ponds, supporting road access and processing facilities, backed by an estimated investment requirement of around Rp2 trillion.

Media reports citing the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) say the first development phase has been completed on 616 hectares and is in production trials, while a second phase of 751 hectares is under construction.

Together, the two phases would account for 1,367 hectares of the 2,000-hectare KSIGN area directly managed under the government scheme, leaving several hundred hectares still to be developed to reach the planned total.

According to Qodari, the broader NTT salt expansion plan linked to KSIGN covers about 10,764 hectares, with 2,000 hectares developed through cooperation between government and community land, and more than 8,000 hectares opened to direct investor participation.

Officials and media outlets reporting on the project do not yet provide published estimates of expected production volume from the initial 616 hectares, beyond noting that KKP is conducting production trials and that the first harvest is aimed for November 2026.

The national target and the arithmetic

Qodari has stated that the government’s baseline for domestic salt production is around 1 million tons per year, with targets to raise output to 2.5 million tons in 2026, 3.5 million tons in 2027 and 5 million tons in 2029.

At the same time, he has outlined a staged reduction in imports from about 2.6 million tons to 2 million tons in 2026, 1 million tons in 2027 and zero in 2029, describing this as part of a strategy to achieve national salt self-sufficiency.

Those figures imply that overall domestic availability would need to roughly match current combined domestic production and imports by 2029, but available reports do not break down national salt use by sector or specify how much of the planned 5 million tons would need to meet industrial-grade specifications for uses such as chemicals and food processing.

Nor do current reports quantify the projected contribution of NTT, or KSIGN Rote Ndao specifically, to the 5 million-ton target, leaving the link between the estate’s hectare figures and the national production and import goals largely illustrative rather than demonstrated.

What would make the target measurable

Because the 616-hectare KSIGN phase is already in trial production and a first harvest is scheduled for November 2026, a published result showing tonnage harvested per hectare would provide an initial benchmark for assessing the estate’s performance against the national targets.

Further assessment would require additional data that officials have not yet released in public briefings, including estimates of Indonesia’s total annual salt demand, segmented between household, food industry and other industrial uses, and the share of projected output expected to meet those different quality standards.

Media reports also do not specify the designed capacity or completion timeline for KSIGN’s storage, processing and transport facilities, factors that will influence how much of the salt produced can be delivered reliably to end users.

For now, the 2029 deadline is presented as a policy objective supported by planned infrastructure and production expansion, with KSIGN Rote Ndao positioned as one of the main centers of that effort, but without publicly available calculations that demonstrate the estate alone can enable Indonesia to eliminate salt imports.

Context for NTT and national salt supply

Government communications position NTT, and Rote Ndao in particular, as a strategic area for scaling up salt production, citing the 10,764-hectare development plan and the 2,000-hectare KSIGN estate under KKP as core elements in the drive to raise national output.

Officials argue that increasing domestic production from about 1 million tons to 5 million tons and cutting imports from roughly 2.6 million tons to zero would align Indonesia’s salt supply with its status as a vast archipelagic state, but acknowledge that those goals depend on successful implementation of projects like KSIGN Rote Ndao and other salt initiatives nationwide.

Sources

• CNBC Indonesia - Siap-Siap! Tambak Garam Raksasa RI di NTT Panen Perdana November 2026
• RRI - Pemerintah Targetkan Hentikan Importe Garam pada 2029
• Tribun Kupang - Pangkas Paradoks Impor Garam, Pemerintah Kucurkan Rp 2 Triliun Bangun Industri Garam Rote Ndao
• tvOneNews - Proyek Industri Garam Raksasa di Rote Ndao, Pemerintah Bidik Produksi 5 Juta Ton di 2029
• Inilah.com - Targetkan Stop Impor di 2029, Pemerintah Sulap Rote Ndao Jadi Kawasan Industri Garam
• IDN Times - Ingin Swasembada, Pemerintah Target Setop Impor Garam pada 2029
• detikFinance