Like many salt suppliers, Cargill Salt builds contracts with buyers before winter with the hope of filling all its customers’ salt needs for the season.

Last year, the snowy winter put a bit more pressure on plow companies with salt trucks.

“Companies were using their entire contract amount by December,” said Lori Johnson spokeswoman for Cargill Salt. “And unfortunately winter doesn’t end in December.”

The situation was not unique to Cargill. A majority of road salt suppliers finished the season without any road salt left.

This year, a milder winter has helped those companies recuperate, but the situation from a year ago is still running its course.

“Typically, you have some carry over from the previous winter,” Johnson said. “There was virtually no inventory, there was no cushion this year.”

To compensate, Cargill and other companies relied more on imported salt to fill the West Coast needs, allowing them to ship salt normally used in those areas to the Midwest.

Mining Cargill’s three mines at full capacity added to the price.

“We were just trying to get salt to our customers,” Johnson said. “There were a number of places where we did things that wouldn’t make sense economically just to try to get salt to people.”

Regardless, salt prices rose dramatically. The city of East Lansing, which paid $27 per ton for salt last year, paid $40 per ton this year.

The milder winter this year helped decrease the usage of salt, but it still doesn’t even out with the contract already signed, said Angela Mabin, administrator of the city’s Department of Public Works.

“Although our usage of salt may be down, the cost is certainly increased,” she said.

Before Thursday’s winter storm, the city had used 1,000 tons of salt during a span that typically requires double that amount, Mabin said.

The storm upped the amount required for this winter, but Jim Joy, East Lansing Street Division supervisor, said the city is not in danger of running out like it did last winter.

“It’s readily available,” he said. “We have no problems getting it and we had plenty for the storm. It’s just the price, it’s almost doubled.”

Private plow companies haven’t had the same luck this season.

With the diminished supply, some were not able to meet all the demands and gave priority to city or state governments over privately owned plow businesses.

Mark McKeown, snow supervisor for Benjamin Parking Lot Maintenance Co., 1940 Snow Road in Lansing, said he was fortunate his whole contract was filled.

“There was a huge concern