COMPAGNIE DES SALINS DU MIDI ET DES SALINES DE L'EST

Who are we

Salins du Midi, French Company, is a salt producer (sea salt, vacuum salt, rock salt). Salins du Midi exports in more than 50 countries with its brands Le Saunier de Camargue, La Baleine, le Paludier de Guérande. The Salins Group, founded in 1856, is one of the main European salt producers and the only pure salt producer exclusively dedicated to the production and commercialization of salt. The Salins Group can supply salt in all its forms, be it untreated or conditioned and for all types of use: food-grade, farming, the chemical industry, de-icing, water treatment and other industrial activities. Industry expertise of over 160 years. A production capacity of 4 million tons of salt per year The only European salt producer, expert in the 3 salt production techniques – solar salt, vacuum and rock salt La Baleine : the number one imported sea salt in the USA Today, we sell our products in over 52 countries across the world Salins Group is present in every segments of the salt Table salt Food industry salt Snow removal Water treatment Industrial salt (chemistry) Locations: Within the Salins Group 4 million tons of salt are produced and packaged each year in our facilities in France, Italy, Spain, Tunisia and Senegal 3 ORIGINS, 3 PRODUCTION METHODS: Marine salt Agricultural method Rock salt Mining techniques Igneous salt Industrial process From March to August, the salt workers help the sea water to circulate from pond to pond to increase its salt concentration. The water evaporates gradually through the natural action of the sun and the wind. The sea water gradually loses 90% of its fresh water to leave a solution with a high salt concentration. The water changes colour, as it accumulates a quantity of a micro algae, the Dunaliella Salina. When this salt concentration, known as “brine”, reaches saturation point at 360g/l, the salt workers direct it towards the crystallizing ponds. Under the effect of the sun and the wind, the water continues to evaporate and the salt, still in solution up to this point, crystallizes and settles at the bottom of the ponds. After several months of crystallization, a layer of salt ten centimeters thick, known as a “salt cake”, forms at the bottom of the ponds. This thick layer of naturally white salt is then harvested in September.