econ

Because states required more road salt than in previous years, demand increased for salt and the demand curve shifted to the right. Issues such as floods and labor strikes also caused a decrease in the supply of road salt and therefore a leftward shift in the supply curve. This led to a shortage of salt as more consumers are willing to buy salt at the previous equilibrium price than there are producers willing to sell it. As a result, buyers are more willing to pay a higher price in order to acquire road salt, and sellers realize they can increase revenue by charging a higher price. Therefore, the equilibrium price increased, and because the positive change in demand was larger than the negative change in supply, the equilibrium quantity also increased.