Dominion Salt's Mount Maunganui refinery is key to the company's increasingly successful business exporting pharmaceutical grade salt, says chief executive Shane Dufaur.
The exports make up around 30 to 40 per cent of the company's Mount Maunganui production, he said.
The high grade salt is used in a variety of pharmaceutical products including saline drips, haemodialysis solutions and eye washes, as well as toothpaste and a range of sports and soft drinks.
"In terms of the pharmaceutical grades, less than 1 per cent of our business is here in New Zealand," said Mr Dufaur. "That's because no one manufacturers medical saline here any more. We actually export pharmaceutical salt, which comes back to New Zealand in the form of saline solution."
Although he would not divulge market share figures, Mr Dufaur said Dominion Salt had a major share of the market for pharmaceutical grade salt in a number of countries in Asia, South America, and in Australia.