Private snow removal companies are sounding the alarm about a shortage of road salt after they say rationing started before this winter season even arrived this year.
“It’s a tough winter we’re going through right now,” said Alex Ferrante with Gateway Landscape group. “It started early in November, and we just have to use it wisely.”
Rock salt is liquid gold this time of year, but private contractors are finding it hard to come by.
Christopher Arnts from Arnts The Landscaping Supplier in Whitby, Ont. posted an Instagram post on Tuesday, informing customers about the high demand but limited supply of the rock salt.
“We were salting on November 9 this year which is the earliest day that we’ve been salting since I’ve been in the industry,” said Arnts.
“When our suppliers notified us at the beginning of December that they could no longer supply us, it left us in a situation where we weren’t going to have enough product to sell our customers. So we immediately started looking for alternative sources.”
Consumers may start to notice road salt palettes running low in stores as well.
CityNews asked The Home Depot whether they are experiencing a shortage. In a statement, they said, “We are actively working to manage inventory of rock salt and ice melt in our stores. Customers may also consider products for traction such as sand and gravel, and snow tools like shovels and snowblowers to manage winter weather.”
Private snow removal contractors have experienced this situation before. In 2025, Ontario faced a significant road salt shortage in part because of frequent winter storms last year.
“We had a salt shortage last February, so that wiped out a lot of the reserve supplies in the area,” said Arnts.
“From what we understand, production is based on previous winters,” said Joe Salemi, Executive Director of Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association. “Last year, we had a lot of snow events but the previous four winters of that, we didn’t get a lot of snow. So the production is based on that, at least that’s what we understand.”
The price for wholesale road salt has also climbed.
“With the demand in salt and the shortage, the price has gone from, let’s say, 65 or 70 dollars a ton to almost 190 dollars a ton,” said Salemi.
Salemi added that there is a lot of pressure on private snow contractors, with companies feeling compelled to put down more salt than they need to for fear of liability.
The road salt shortage does not impact the City of Toronto. They told CityNews that they have three exclusive suppliers that have been consistently delivering sufficient salt to keep infrastructure safe.
“The problem is the municipalities and the regions that salt the roadways are using so much salt they have to keep that salt available in priority for them in order to keep the roads safe for everybody and that comes to the detriment of the contractors that salting private properties,” said Arnts.
“Municipal government is prioritized for salt deliveries over private contractors. They are buying more on average than private contractors, but there are as much private parking lots and walkways as there is roadways.”
As the road salt shortage lingers, private contractors like Ferrante hope they’ll have enough to make it through the inevitable storms ahead.
“Our worry is it’s only January. We still have a good two and a half months of winter. We hope it’s an early spring.”
