Local Urea Prices on the Rise

3:26:29 PM | 7/8/2005

The export prices of urea fertiliser, has risen by around US$15 a ton against late 2004 to around US$270 a ton, forcing domestic index to stand high at VND4,700-5,000 a kilo ($1=VND15,746).

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that China, the country’s largest urea seller, imposed 5 per cent higher tax on fertilizer exports, which has lead to an increase in urea prices in domestic market.

"The higher urea prices would cause several difficulties for agricultural production in the main winter-spring crop as the country has only around 250,000 tonnes in stockpiles. Vietnam will need to import additional 300,000 tonnes of urea to satisfy the domestic demands," the ministry said.

It has instructed the Phu My Urea Plant to release around 100,000 tonnes of urea to the market to stabilise the market.

Vietnam

is forecast to import around 1.7 million tonnes of urea to satisfy agricultural production demands this year. In 2004, the country imported 1.737 million tonnes of urea worth US$376 million, out of a total 4.041 million tons of fertilisers at US$819 million during the period.
(Liberated Saigon,

Vietnam

Economic Times)