Phu My Fertilizer Plant, the biggest fertilizer maker in Vietnam under the PetroVietnam Fertilizer & Chemical Co. (PVFCCo), planned to boost imports in order to stabilize fertilizer prices at local market, which are soaring when farmers enter new crop.
Phan Dinh Duc, general director of the PVFCCo said the company has so far this year imported 86,000 tons of many kinds of fertilizers, some 22,000 tons have been available for local market and the remainder of 64,000 tons will be brought to Vietnam late this month and early April.
“We will try to ensure sufficient fertilizer for local market in the near time,” Duc said, adding that PVFCCo has offered 22,000 tons of imported fertilizer and 55,000 tons of locally made fertilizer so far this year.
Duc said the company is seeking cooperation with the Vietnam Fertilizer Association to set up distribution network from provincial to district levels that it believes to help farmers access lower price product.
Meanwhile, the Vietnam Chemical Corporation (Vinachem), said its members have run at low capacity due to material shortage since the beginning of this month.
Vinachem said its fertilizer stockpile is now only 45 per cent equal to the same period of last year, including 26,389 tons of phosphate, 51,176 tons of NPK and 8,940 tons of urea.
Vietnamese companies spent $212 million on importing 593,000 tons of fertilizers in the first two months of 2008, up 116.7 per cent on year in value and 26.5 per cent in volume.
According to the Vinachem, Vietnam will need around 1.9 million tons of urea fertilizer a year, 1.3 million tons of phosphate fertilizer, 700,000 tons of kali fertilizer, 2.5 million tons of NPK fertilizer and 700,000 tons of DAP fertilizer in 2008.
Currently, increased oil prices have pushed urea prices to VND6.7 million a ton, up by VND2 million a ton on year. (Labor, Vietnam Economic Times)
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