Salt production on a semi-commercial basis started in 1988 by small private enterprises. Thereafter, extraction of salt from the lake peaked in 1998–2000 when there was a conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Djibouti replaced Eritrea in supplying salt to Ethiopia at highly attractive prices (250% of the earlier sale price) when it came to be known as the "white gold." Commercial industrial production rose between 2004 and 2008. In 2004, after an initial low of 17,745 tonnes due to import duty of 53% imposed by Ethiopian exports, production increased and recorded a high of 110,000 tonnes in 2008. However, since 2008 the production has increased manifold as a result of the Government of Djibouti Department of Industries initiating action plans, in 2002, to expand the salt extraction process from Lake Assal by adopting modern mechanical processes so that a crude salt production of 6 million tonnes could be achieved annually, eventually. After instituting a feasibility study for the purpose, the Salt Investment S.A., in a joint agreement, in March 2008, between Emerging Capital Partners LLC (ECP), Société d’Exploitation du Lac (SEL) and Hardtechnologies Group S.L. ("Hardtech"), have been made responsible for "developing the salt project further and are established under the laws of Djibouti for the purposes of harvesting, refining, storing, transporting and exporting salt extracted from Lake Assal." The project envisages extraction at the rate of 1,000 tonnes per hour, supported by a 250 tonnes per hour mechanical salt washing and upgrading plant. The target of 4 million tonnes was expected to be achieved by 2012.