Sugar and salt

Sugar and salt are present on the table of almost any modern person, although these simple products are still mined by traditional, if not ancient, methods. More than 100 countries around the world annually produce about 160 million tons of sugar.

Most sugar is made from sugar cane, which grows in tropical countries. Every year, the inhabitants of the Earth extract 240 million tons of salt for culinary and industrial needs. This photo essay tells how sugar is produced and salt is mined in different parts of the world.

(Total 30 photos)

1. Salt terraces near the town of Maras in the Cusco region, Peru, August 29, 2012. (Janine Costa/Reuters)

2. A cut sugar cane stalk in a field in Saraburi province, Thailand, on May 9, 2012. Thailand is the second largest exporter of sugar in the world. (Dario Pignatelli/Bloomberg)

3. A visitor inspects the Nemokon salt mine on September 26, 2012. The Nemocon Mine is the most popular tourist attraction in Colombia. (Jose Miguel Gomez/Reuters)

4 A worker boils water taken from mangrove swamps to make kitchen salt at a salt mine in Guanacaste province, Costa Rica, on April 11, 2013. (Jeffrey Arguedas/EPA)

5. Salt ponds in the village of Palibelo near the city of Bima, Indonesia, November 22, 2012. (Beawiharta/Reuters)

6. A man prays in a mosque built of salt bricks, near the second largest salt mine in the world in Khewra, Pakistan, April 20, 2013. Khewra, Pakistan's oldest salt mine, is visited by about 250,000 tourists every year. (Omer Saleem/EPA)

7. A worker shows a crystal of sea salt or "salt flower" at a salt pan near Nin, Croatia, on August 24, 2012. Salt flakes, similar to flower petals, form on the surface of the sea. The collection of flakes is carried out manually using a sieve. The price of this type of salt reaches 50 euros per kilogram. (Hrvoje Polan/AFP/GettyImages)

Smoke billows from the chimneys of a sugar refinery in Plattling, Germany on October 9, 2012. (Armin Weigel/AFP/GettyImages)

9. An Afghan man prepares traditional sweets at a factory on the outskirts of Jalalabad on November 25, 2012. (Noorullah Shirzada/AFP/Getty Images)

10. A worker burns sugarcane waste to produce ash used in the charcoal production process at the Eco Fuel Africa factory in Lugazi, Uganda, on January 29, 2013. (Michele Sibiloni/AFP/Getty Images)

11. A man works at the salt ponds in the province of Pangasinan, Philippines, May 6, 2013. (Aaron Favila/Associated Press)

12. A woman throws away used land in the city of Djegbadji, Benin, January 11, 2013. Illegal salt miners take the topsoil near their dwellings, then wash the ground with water to wash away the dissolved salt, and finally evaporate the water. (Sunday Alamba/Associated Press)

13. A Cambodian man carries palm juice, from which sugar is obtained, in Tuol, Cambodia, December 13, 2012. (Heng Sinith/Associated Press)

14. Local farmers cut sugar cane on a plantation in the province of Prey Veng, Cambodia, September 1, 2012. (Heng Sinith/Associated Press)

15. A worker rolls a wagon filled with salt at a salt mine in Ston, Croatia on July 31, 2012. The Ston Salt Mines are the oldest mines in the Mediterranean. (Antonio Bronic/Reuters)

16. A worker turns a valve that regulates the supply of sugar cane juice at a sugar factory in Yarona, Cuba, on September 8, 2012. (Franklin Reyes/Associated Press)

17. People work at a salt mine in Las Salinas, Dominican Republic, July 28, 2012. The mines in Las Salinas have been known since the time of the Spanish colonizers. Workers here receive about $150 a month. (Ricardo Rojas/Reuters)

18. A worker walks between salt ponds in the village of Palibelo, Indonesia, on November 22, 2012. (Beawiharta/Reuters)

19. People work on a sugar cane plantation in the city of Siribala, Mali, on January 24, 2013. (Joe Penney/Reuters)

20. A farmer rides a donkey through a sugar plantation in Nueva Herusalen, Mexico on September 26, 2012. (Alan Ortega/Reuters)

21. A woman cuts sugar cane at the Montelimar sugar plantation on the outskirts of Managua, Nicaragua, on December 31, 2012. Nicaragua plans to produce 1.5 million short tons of sugar per year. (Oswaldo Rivas/Reuters)

22. A man makes brown sugar in his home on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan, November 6, 2012. (Fayaz Aziz/Reuters)

23. Pieces of panel, unrefined cane sugar, lie in a barrel at a sugar factory in Tepetitan, El Salvador, February 26, 2012. (Juan Carlos/Bloomberg)

24. A worker carries a bag of salt on the salt terraces near the town of Maras in the Cusco region, Peru, on August 29, 2012. (Janine Costa/Reuters)

25. Crossroads at the salt mines of the concern Rio Tinto Group in Dampier, Australia, August 20, 2012. (Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg)

26. Farmers harvest sugar cane in a field in the village of Yomitan, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, February 24, 2012. (Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg)

27. A worker drinks water while harvesting sugar cane on a plantation in Sidoarjo, Indonesia, September 19, 2012. (Sigit Pamungkas/Reuters)

28. A salt mine worker takes a salt sample for analysis in Bex, Switzerland on December 4, 2012. (Denis Balibouse/Reuters)

29. A man transports pieces of halite mined at the bottom of Lake Katwe, in Uganda, January 29, 2013. (James Akena/Reuters)

30. A man extracts rock salt at the bottom of Lake Katwe, Uganda, January 29, 2013. (James Akena/Reuters)