(Adobo Chronicles’ senior geopolitical correspondent Brian Neyra contributed to this report.)

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – The irony of ironies! The Philippines is surrounded by sea water, yet it imports 80-90% of its supply of this basic commodity. The country imports at least 850,000 metric tons of salt from mainly Australia and China every year.

Then there are calls to boycott commercial goods from China because of the South China Sea territorial conflict. But then, that boycott may not even be necessary when it comes to salt as there may not be any to import from China.

There is panic over salt in China — people are emptying supermarket shelves and buying out all salt in online stores

The “salt rush” (抢盐潮) started after Japan began dumping radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The Chinese are worried that food-grade sea salt will soon be contaminated with radiation.

So is Philippine news media gearing up for its next salty “price and supply” narrative?